Sky & Telescope - June 2024 - 12

STELLAR SMASHUPS by Morgan MacLeod
A
glance at the daytime sky is enough to convince us
that our Sun is a single star. But not so for many of
the stars in our galaxy and beyond: About half of all
stars live their lives with at least one stellar companion.
Our census of binary stars reveals that these systems come
in a variety of arrangements. The orbits of some pairings are
wide enough that the stars never directly interact - they're
linked but separate, in a stellar version of toddlers in " parallel
play. " The tightest binaries have stars in constant communication,
their gas transferred from one star to the other or
even sheathing them both in a communal envelope.
In the wildest of these situations, the stars actually merge.
In the last 15 years or so, we've begun to spot these stellar
mergers. Powered by a revolution in how we do astronomy -
a change from mapping the seemingly " static " sky to watching
it change in real time - we are learning that when stars
merge, they power brief but violent outbursts so bright they
stand out even in distant galaxies. When the dusty aftermath
of these events clears, what's left behind is a single, bigger
star, assembled from the gas of the former pair.
The chance to see these events as they happen has opened
a window for us into understanding the lives of binary stars,
which are more surprising and transformative than we ever
imagined.
Collide
When Stars
May 20, 2002
Sept. 2, 2002
Oct. 28, 2002
MERGER-MADE? The star V838 Monocerotis suddenly
flashed in 2002. This series of Hubble images shows
the star's environment over the course of nearly three
years. Despite appearances, this isn't an expanding
round shell of gas - what we're seeing is the outburst's
light echo, reaching us as light from the outburst
travels farther from the star through the surrounding
dusty gas and reflects off it toward us. Astronomers
now think V838 Mon's outburst was the merger of two
stars, which created a new, larger star (red, at center).
Dec. 17, 2002
12 JUNE 2024 * SKY & TELESCOPE
Astronomers have caught a
handful of binary stars merging.
Many stars may someday suffer
the same dramatic fate.
Feb. 8, 2004

Sky & Telescope - June 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Sky & Telescope - June 2024

Contents
Sky & Telescope - June 2024 - Cover1
Sky & Telescope - June 2024 - Cover2
Sky & Telescope - June 2024 - 1
Sky & Telescope - June 2024 - Contents
Sky & Telescope - June 2024 - 3
Sky & Telescope - June 2024 - 4
Sky & Telescope - June 2024 - 5
Sky & Telescope - June 2024 - 6
Sky & Telescope - June 2024 - 7
Sky & Telescope - June 2024 - 8
Sky & Telescope - June 2024 - 9
Sky & Telescope - June 2024 - 10
Sky & Telescope - June 2024 - 11
Sky & Telescope - June 2024 - 12
Sky & Telescope - June 2024 - 13
Sky & Telescope - June 2024 - 14
Sky & Telescope - June 2024 - 15
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Sky & Telescope - June 2024 - 17
Sky & Telescope - June 2024 - 18
Sky & Telescope - June 2024 - 19
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Sky & Telescope - June 2024 - Cover3
Sky & Telescope - June 2024 - Cover4
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