Oddball Stellar Duo Creates Spectacular Fireworks
Located approximately 700 light-years away, R Aquarii is one of the closest stars known to undergo violent eruptions that spew out huge quantities of processed nuclear material into the surrounding space. R Aquarii belongs to the symbiotic class of 150 known variable stars. The symbiotic classification borrows its name from the biological word "symbiosis," whereby two different types of organisms co-exist. In astronomy a symbiotic system is composed of two very different types of stars: a cool red giant star and a small white dwarf companion (a hot burned-out star). They are embedded inside a glowing nebula produced by gas escaping the red giant.
In 1939, Edwin Hubble first detected the expansion of the nebula. In the 1970s astronomers found jets of matter streaming in opposite directions – like a lawn sprinkler. Astronomers now know R Aquarii has actually undergone a series of violent eruptions – the latest one probably occurring in the late 1970's. This happens when the dwarf star swings close to the red giant primary star, siphons off hydrogen, and then the dwarf star's surface undergoes a spontaneous thermonuclear explosion. The Hubble Space Telescope has been keeping an eye on R Aquarii since 1990. The latest images reveal colorful twisted filaments extending very far from the stellar odd couple, resembling the tracings on a child’s Spirograph toy.
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