Sakurai's Object - Ever wondered how stars change?

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Vaskadar

It's time I look back from outer space
Feb 12, 2008
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http://phys.org/news/2014-04-sakurai-stellar-evolution-real.html

It's a star undergoing a final flash.

Stellar lifetimes are measured in billions of years, so changes in their appearance rarely take place on a human timescale. Thus an opportunity to observe a star passing from one stage of life to another on a timescale of months to years is very exciting, as there are only a very few examples known. One such star is Sakurai's Object (V4334 Sgr). First reported by a Japanese amateur astronomer in 1996 as a "nova-like object," Sakurai's Object had been only a few years before the faint central star of a planetary nebula. In the 1990's Sakurai's Object brightened by a factor of 10,000. This brightening has been attributed to a final helium shell flash. In this process the burned out core of the star at the center of the planetary nebula re-ignites.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2014-04-sakurai-stellar-evolution-real.html#jCp
 
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Renegade Retard

Defender of the newbie
Dec 18, 2002
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Sakurai's Object - Ever wondered how stars change?
It's a star undergoing a final flash.

So, a star like Kirstie Alley changed from being drop dead gorgeous to a sumo wrestler...because some sick-o flashed her? :con:

Also, tl,dr

;)
 

N1ghtmare

Sweet Dreams
Jul 17, 2005
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This stuff is always interesting. I heard that astronomers are also observing a large gas cloud that is about to be sucked into our galaxy's black hole.