BREAKING: Astronomers find the fastest nova yet — and it never stops wobbling
The unusual nova may give information on how star explosions populate the solar system and the universe as a whole. Matter stolen from a partner star flows into an accretion disc around a white dwarf in an intermediate polar system, such as the one depicted in this artist’s illustration. However, the magnetic field of the white dwarf disturbs that material, generating oscillations in the light radiated by the system. A faraway cosmic object energetically erupted just over a year ago, on June 12, 2021. The normally invisible star, a white dwarf syphoning material from its neighbouring companion, reached a maximum brightness of roughly magnitude 6.2, about 10,000 times brighter than it was before. In fact, the star became so bright that it could be seen with the naked eye for a brief moment. Within a single day, the new star, or nova, had dimmed to one-sixth of its peak brightness. Witnessing such a rapid decline is a first for a classical nova event like this. “It was only abo...