Breathtaking Real Photo of Two Stars Destroying Each Other, R Aquarii

This object is, in fact, a pair: a white dwarf star that steadily burns at a relatively cool temperature and a highly variable red giant. As they orbit each other, the white dwarf pulls material from the red giant onto its surface. Over time, enough of this material accumulates and triggers an explosion. Astronomers have seen such outbursts over recent decades. Evidence for much older outbursts is seen in the spectacular structures observed by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope (red and blue). X-ray data from Chandra (purple) shows how a jet from the white dwarf is striking material surrounding it and creating shock waves, similar to sonic booms from supersonic planes.

“This Breathtaking Image Is a Real Photo of Two Stars Destroying Each Other”
Science Alert Journal:
https://www.sciencealert.com/look-at-this-...

Hubble photo of Cederblad 211:
Image Credit: Hubble, NASA, ESA; Processing & License: Judy Schmidt
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap180711.html

Wikimedia Commons view of Symbiotic R Aquarii
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sy...
Image Credit: Hubble, NASA, ESA; Processing & License: Judy Schmidt

R Aquarii viewed by the Very Large Telescope and Hubble
ESO Journal: https://www.eso.org/public/usa/images/eso1...

R Aquqrii viewed by Hubble and Chandra, updated on 2022
https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/r-aquar...
X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: NASA/STScI, Palomar Observatory, DSS; Radio: NSF/NRAO/VLA; H-Alpha: LCO/IMACS/MMTF

Arxiv
SPHERE / ZIMPOL observations of the symbiotic system R Aqr. I. Imaging of the stellar binary and the innermost jet clouds
https://arxiv.org/abs/1703.05624

Credit:
ESO/Schmid et al./NASA/ESA

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