The Hubble Space Telescope has captured an image that NASA describes as a “star volcano,” located 700 light-years away from us.
In the image released by NASA, the object appears as a supervolcano in the sky erupting and emitting intense light. This is R Aquarii, a terrifying pair consisting of a white dwarf and a red giant star separated by 2.6 billion kilometers.
The moment the “star volcano” R Aquarii explodes – (Photo: NASA/ESA).
The red giant star is a dying star that expands and shines one last time before it “dies.”
Meanwhile, the white dwarf is the “zombie” left behind after that death, a compact object representing the remnants of the collapsed star, carrying high energy.
In other words, R Aquarii consists of a dead star and a dying star, existing in a symbiotic relationship.
According to NASA, both are true cosmic monsters.
The aging red giant is a variable star, 400 times larger than the Sun, continuously changing in temperature and brightness by up to 750 times over a 290-day cycle.
At its peak, this star can shine 5,000 times brighter than the Sun.
Variable stars change brightness due to their intrinsic properties as well as external influences. In this case, its companion star contributes to the extreme changes.
When the white dwarf comes closest to the red giant during its 44-year orbital cycle, it gravitationally pulls in hydrogen gas.
This material accumulates on the surface of the white dwarf until it undergoes a spontaneous nuclear fusion reaction, causing the surface to explode like a massive hydrogen bomb. After the explosion, the refueling cycle begins anew.
This explosion ejects strands resembling jets of water shooting from the core, forming loops and strange trails as plasma appears in streams.
The plasma is twisted by the force of the explosion and directed upward and outward by strong magnetic fields. The outflow seems to bend back on itself into a spiral pattern.
This plasma stream is shooting into space at speeds exceeding 1 million miles per hour—fast enough to travel from Earth to the Moon in just 15 minutes.
These strands glow in visible light due to being energized by the intense radiation from the star duo.
The explosion of the “star volcano” shakes an entire region of space, ejecting material up to 400 billion kilometers away – (Clip: NASA/ESA).
NASA calls the scale of this event “extraordinary.” The material blasted into space can be found at least 400 billion kilometers from the stars, or 24 times the diameter of our solar system.
