Astronomers at the University of Manchester believe they have found the answer to the mystery "super winds" that caused the death of stars. In the journal Nature, a team of scientists reported that it was revealed when they study the atmospheres of dying stars using a new technique.
The team, led by Barnaby Morris of the University of Sydney in Australia, including scientists from several universities like the University of Paris-Diderot in France, University of Manchester, University of Oxford, and Macquarie University, New South Wales. They use the Very Large Telescope in Chile, operated by the European Southern Observatory.
At the resolution used by the team of scientists, they can distinguish two spotlights a car in Australia, from where they are in England. This resolution makes very extreme team of astronomers can study the large red star in detail, including looking at the wind out of gas and dust from the star.
At the end of the life of stars like the sun, they release a "super winds" that have a power of 100 million times stronger than the solar wind. These winds occur over a period of 10 thousand years, and cut nearly half the mass of the star.
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| Cosmic duststorms may be composed of transparent crystals. (Picture from: http://www.newscientist.com/) |
Finally, remaining only a dying star that dims. Our sun will begin to throw the gas about 5 billion years.
Cause superwind is still a mystery. The scientists assumed that super winds triggered by a very fine dust grains, which formed in the atmospheres of stars and absorbing light. Star light drive that silicate dust grains away from the star.
Professor Albert Zijlstra, from The University of Manchester‘s Jodrell Bank Observatory, said the breakthrough changes our view of these superwinds. For the first time, we begin to understand how the superwinds work, and how stars (including, in the distant future, our Sun) die.
He added: “The dust and sand in the superwind will survive the star, and later become part of the clouds in space from which new stars form. The sand grains at that time become the building blocks of planets. Our own Earth has formed from star dust. We are now a big step further in understanding this cycle of life and death.” *** [SCIENCEDAILY | KORAN TEMP0 3850]
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