A large number of space explosions were devoid of hydrogen. Therefore, scientists concluded this There must also be a large number of stars that lack this element. They also assumed that about a third of all megalithic ancestors Supernovae It didn’t contain much hydrogen either. The problem arose when the search for such stars in the universe began. Astronomers have found only one object.
Scientists on the trail of supernova secrets
The research was led by Maria Drot from the University of Toronto and Ylva Gottberg from the Institute of Science and Technology in Austria. It turns out The problem with finding hydrogen-poor stars is not that they are rare, but that they are exceptionally difficult to detect. Scientists decided to conduct research under ultraviolet light. For this purpose, they used the Swift ultraviolet optical telescope, which is used in… the exams Objects in the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. They are dwarf galaxies orbiting around them milky way.
25 candidates whose UV images appear most interesting were selected for further observations. We were also able to obtain spectroscopic data, which made it possible to know the chemical composition of objects. If it turns out so stars Those that lack hydrogen are rare, and this means that all theoretical frameworks for various cosmic phenomena are wrong. Fortunately, their search was successful.
Double stars are the key to solving the puzzle
According to current theory, Hydrogen-poor supernovae (also called striped supernovae) form in binary stars. In nearby systems, one star separates its hydrogen shell from its companion. This is how it was created a star Helium with a small amount of hydrogen. When her time is up and she comes SupernovaOnly a small amount of this element will be released as a result of the explosion.
A team of scientists was able to easily identify a very huge object stars Helium whose nucleus has collapsed black holes after death. But it turned out so There is a problem in finding medium-sized objects that are considered precursors of neutron stars. According to researchers, there should be many more of them than the first. Unfortunately, they are more difficult to detect. This is due to the fact that they have been stripped of their external materials, so most of the light they emit falls outside the visible light spectrum. Away from this, If there is a larger, brighter companion star nearby that has used up all the hydrogen, the helium star will be much more difficult to see.
Fortunately, scientists were able to use the aforementioned telescope and check the ultraviolet rays of the objects. Thanks to him, it became possible to detect medium-mass stars. They had a high temperature, high surface gravity, and at the same time high helium and low hydrogen content. Although the research is successful, it is only a first step. Detailed analyzes are ongoing and the team wants to expand its research stars Helium. However, activities to date have allowed us to identify a missing group of objects representing the progenitors of hydrogen-lacking supernovas. Scientists expect that there are many of them, and all they need to do is find ways to discover them faster.
