An international team of researchers has found evidence that the brightest stellar explosions in our Universe could be triggered by helium nuclear detonation near the surface of a white dwarf star. Using Hyper Suprime-Cam mounted on the Subaru Telescope, the team detected a type Ia supernova within a day after the explosion, and explained its behavior through a model calculated using the supercomputer ATERUI. This result was reported in Nature published on Oct. 5.

Links

• Surface Helium Detonation Spells End for White Dwarf (Subaru Telescope)
• Surface Helium Detonation Spells End for White Dwarf (Center for Computational Astrophysics)
• The helium explosion at the surface sets out the final journey of a dying star (The University of Tokyo)
• Violent helium reaction on white dwarf surface triggers supernova explosion (Kavli IPMU)
• The star that burns twice as bright (Kyoto University)