"This is the weirdest supernova we’ve ever seen" - the star that refuses to die

[gary]

In a 9 Nov 2017 article in The Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/nov/08/zombie-star-amazes-astronomers-by-surviving-multiple-supernovae), Science Editor Ian Sample reports
on the mysterious case of iPTF14hls, a star in Ursa Major that has
undergone a supernova power explosion multiple times since 1954.
The first star ever observed to have done so.











Article here :-
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/nov/08/zombie-star-amazes-astronomers-by-surviving-multiple-supernovae

Abstract and paper in Nature (requires subscription) "Energetic eruptions leading to a peculiar hydrogen-rich explosion of a massive star" by Arcavi et. al. :-
https://www.nature.com/articles/nature24030

[xelasnave]

Thanks for posting that Gary and all the posts you do ..its great.

alex

[gary]

Thank you Alex. You are most welcome.

Sarah Kaplan is also writing about it in the Washington Post today :-
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2017/11/08/the-strangest-supernova-weve-ever-seen-a-star-that-keeps-exploding-and-surviving

and Amina Khan in the LA Times :-
http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-long-lasting-supernova-20171108-story.html



Stan Woosey has a draft Jan 2017 paper on "Pulsational Pair-Instability Supernovae" on arXiv here :-
https://arxiv.org/pdf/1608.08939.pdf

Perhaps he was on the money. I hadn't heard of the classification until today.
Some astronomers apparently theorize that the 1843 eruption of Eta Carinae A might be an example of a pulsational pair-instability supernovae.

This latest stars published brightness and light curve look phenomenal.

Whatever diet it is on is rich on energy!

Best Regards

Gary Kopff
Mount Kuring-Gai NSW

[xelasnave]

I am wondering about it being another star.

If a super nova happens I expect material would be blown into space and possibly caused mass to be added to a nearby star such to cause its mass to get to a collapse point.

Perhaps binaries.

I guess any idea seems more reasonable than just one behaving as the observations suggest.

Anyways I will follow up with my scope.;)

Alex

[Eratosthenes]

"....An even earlier explosion appears to have happened in 1954 when a burst of light was detected from the same location. The group’s calculations show there is a 95 to 99% chance it was the same star."


95 to 99% chance:D

[xelasnave]

But a 5% chance it was a coincidence...someone said.

A double bunger is more newsworthy and other things.
Alex

[Dave2042]

It's a legitimate reason to be a bit skeptical.
That said, it's worth remembering that 95% is very certain by the standards of observational astrophysics. The high sigma levels that particle physics produces are entirely due to having a computerised accelerator doing gazillions of repetitions of the same experiment. A luxury astrophysics doesn't have.
Transporting the particle mindset to astrophysics is not really sensible.