Scientists claim to have observed a new form supernova explosions which may “prematurely cause the star to explode”, according to ANU astrophysicist and cosmologist Dr Brad Tucker.
“We know that there’s a few different mechanisms for causing stars to explode and it kind of depends on how big they are,” he told Sky News Australia.
“If you have a supernova or a big star and it’s in what we call a binary system – two stars going around each other – and it collides actually with an older star, what we call a neutron star, well that collision can kind of prematurely cause the star to explode.”
Dr Tucker said this was only theorised and would mean instead of the star reaching its natural end point, it would trigger a supernova explosion which “looks a little bit different” in space.
“When this collision happens, people could find these unique signatures of this explosion and say ‘hey, this star has collided with an old neutron star’,” he said.
Scientists believe this is what happened to a supernova which was discovered last year.
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