Nova Explosion

02.07.2024

Nova Explosion

Why in the news?                                                                                                                                                                                                             

           Global professionals and amateur astronomers are waiting for an once-in-a-lifetime nova explosion which will occur in September, 3,000 light-years from the Earth.

About Nova Explosion:

• It is the dramatic instance of a star exploding as it interacts with another, nearby star.
• It’s a one of many, repeated moments during the long, slow, death of two neighboring stars in the same system.
• Astronomers are waiting for the fiery explosion of T Coronae Borealis, also dubbed the “Blaze Star” and known to astronomers as “T CrB”.

○For T CrB, this nova event happens roughly every 80 years. It's like Halley’s Comet event every 76 years  so astronomers call T CrB a “recurrent” nova.

○They believe T CrB’s prior eruptions were observed as long ago as December, 1787 and even in October 1217 AD.

• When T CrB erupts, its luminosity will increase dramatically, making it visible to the naked eye for several days.

Process of Nova Explosion:

• The system contains two stars — a white dwarf and a red giant.
• The white dwarf is an incredibly dense remnant of a once larger star. It’s about the size of planet Earth but with the same mass as our sun.
• Its neighbor, the red giant, is in its final years of existence and is slowly being stripped of hydrogen by the gravitational pull of the denser white dwarf.
• This star “cannibalism” causes a tremendous buildup of pressure and heat, which eventually triggers a huge thermonuclear explosion.
• The explosion doesn’t completely destroy the stars, however, and so this event repeats over time. It can carry on for hundreds of thousands of years.
• Different nova events have different cycles, ranging from a few years to hundreds of thousands of years.

                                               Source: The Hindu

Ques :- Consider the following statements regarding the Nova Explosion:

Statement-I

It is an event where a star explodes as it interacts with another star.

Statement-II

 It destroys both interacting stars immediately in this explosion.

Which one of the following is correct in respect of the above statements?

A.Both Statement-I and Statement-II are correct, and Statement-II is the correct explanation for Statement-I.

B.Both Statement-I and Statement-II are correct, and Statement-II is not the correct explanation for Statement-I.

C.Statement-I is correct, but Statement-II is incorrect.

D.Statement-I is incorrect, but Statement-II is correct.

Answer C