'Zombie' stars die then suck the life out of other stars

[Ichingcarpenter]

"Zombie" stars that explode like bombs as they die, only to revive by sucking matter out of other stars. According to an astrophysicist at UC Santa Barbara, this isn't the plot for the latest 3D blockbuster movie. Instead, it's something that happens every day in the universe -- something that can be used to measure dark energy.


This special category of stars, known as Type Ia supernovae, help to probe the mystery of dark energy, which scientists believe is related to the expansion of the universe.

He calls Type Ia supernovae "zombie" stars because they're dead, with a core of ash, but they come back to life by sucking matter from a companion star. Over the past 50 years, astrophysicists have discovered that Type Ia supernovae are part of binary systems –– two stars orbiting each other. The one that explodes is a white dwarf star. "That's what our sun will be at the end of its life," he said. "It will have the mass of the sun crammed into the size of the Earth."

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-06-zombie-stars-key-dark-energy.html

[WhiteTara]

1. The headline made me think you were

talking about republicans. LOL

[Sanity Claws]

2. I thought this was about Hollywood has-beens

then I saw this was posted in the Science group. Oops.
Haha

[rocktivity]

3. Thats not a nice way to talk about Lindsay Lohan

:headbang:
rocktivity