Einstein Probe's X-ray vision discovers an 'impossible' pair of vampire stars

image via Space.com

February 20, 2025, 11:00 AM

• •A flash of powerful X-ray light coming from a nova explosion on a white dwarf star has caught the attention of astronomers using the Chinese–European Einstein Probe.
• •The high-energy flare was spotted on May 27, 2024 coming from a star system in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), which is a neighboring satellite of our Milky Way galaxy.
• •The solution seems to be that the Be star and the white dwarf are sharing material, taking turns feeding off one another like vampires.

Astronomers have discovered a bizarre binary star system in which a white dwarf star is feeding off a massive companion star. The two stars are taking turns feeding off one another, and the exchange of material has altered the fates of both stars. The white dwarf is now destined to explode as a supernova, while the massive star is right on the borderline between stars that evolve into red giants and stars that go supernova. It's now a race against time to see which of the companions survives the longest.

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