LEUVEN, Belgium, Oct. 21 (UPI) — Astronomers have spotted an extreme binary star system. It’s closer, hotter and more massive than any double star ever observed.
The research team spotted the binary system, called VFTS 352, while scanning the Tarantula Nebula using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope. The double star is 160,000 light-years away.
The centers of the two stars are separated by roughly one million miles, completing their orbit around each other in less than a day. Together their mass is equal to 57 suns. Each star burns at a temperature of 40,000 degrees Celsius.
Unlike most binary systems, the two stars are equal in size. They don’t steal but share their stellar material. Roughly 30 percent of their material now overlaps.
Researchers believe the stars’ interiors are actually mixing together.
“The VFTS 352 is the best case yet found for a hot and massive double star that may show this kind of internal mixing,” lead researcher Leonardo A. Almeida, an astronomer at the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil, said in a press release. “As such it’s a fascinating and important discovery.”
Almeida and his colleagues believe there are two possible fates for the binary system. One would see the stars continue to move closer and merge, forming a magnetic, gigantic single star, which would ultimately collapse on itself creating a violent supernova.
The other possibility is more novel — and highly theoretical.
“If the stars are mixed well enough, they both remain compact and the VFTS 352 system may avoid merging,” explained Selma de Mink, an astrophysicist at the University of Amsterdam.” This would lead the objects down a new evolutionary path that is completely different from classic stellar evolution predictions.”
“In the case of VFTS 352, the components would likely end their lives in supernova explosions, forming a close binary system of black holes,” de Mink continued. “Such a remarkable object would be an intense source of gravitational waves.”
The unusual binary system is detailed in a new paper published this week in the Astrophysical Journal.
Comment count on this article reflects comments made on Breitbart.com and Facebook. Visit Breitbart's Facebook Page.