In the universe, there are constantly incredible discoveries that make us wonder about our understanding of the universe. The latest surprise came from astronomers, who have discovered some white dwarfs with pure carbon atmospheres, which is nothing short of unbelievable.
The evolution of white dwarfs remains a mystery to astrophysicists. It is believed that these stars evolved from stars that are not massive enough to be supernovae and are in a marginal state. In simple terms, it's like a star burning to ashes. Once the star has run out of helium, leaving behind "ashes" of carbon and oxygen, it ends up as a white dwarf, extremely dense and massive as a star, but about the size of Earth.
Scientists originally thought that the core of a white dwarf star was made up of carbon and oxygen, obscured by the surrounding atmosphere of hydrogen or helium. However, they were shocked to find that some white dwarfs have pure carbon atmospheres.
Patrick Dufour, an astronomer at the University of Arizona's Stewart Observatory, said: "We have detected no traces of helium and hydrogen in the star's atmosphere. We may actually be directly observing a bare stellar core. We may have a window to see what was once a stellar nuclear furnace and are seeing the ashes of a nuclear reaction that once took place. ”
The discovery was somewhat fortuitous, as Dufourh recalls: "In May 2007, out of desperation, I decided to try to simulate a pure carbon atmosphere. Surprisingly, it worked. I found that if I calculated the pure carbon atmosphere model, it accurately reproduced the observed spectrum. No one has ever calculated a pure carbon atmospheric model before. No one believes it exists. We were surprised and excited. ”
This breakthrough discovery may raise more questions about the evolution and formation of these carbon-atmospheric stars, but it undoubtedly provides valuable clues to our understanding of star life. The miracles of science continue to unfold in the universe, and our exploration of the universe will continue to stir up more unknown sparks.