Astronomers have uncovered a 16-year space mystery of a strange blue nebula



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In 2004, astronomers stumbled upon an extraordinary discovery. At 6.2 thousand light years from us, they discovered a star surrounded by an annular nebula, radiant ultraviolet light, writes the Science Alert portal.

Nebula
Source: NASA / JPL – Caltech

It is a unique space, because so far nothing resembling this phenomenon has been discovered in our Milky Way. That’s why you are for a long time scientists could not explainwhat is this strange nebula or why it has such an unconventional shape. Only recently have they been able to find the answer. The star around which the nebula is located is called TYC 2597-735-1 and the nebula itself is the result of the merger of two stars together.

Binary system

Scientists discovered that 5,000 years ago the star was TYC 2597-735-1 part of a binary system. It means he had a relative of the star and they both orbited each other. However, there was a merger and the star pair became one. The nebula is a remnant of gas and debris left over from a savage collision. Astronomers say it is one of the youngest fused stars in the universe to appear.

“The merger of the two stars is not an exceptional event, but the stars will soon be covered by the material that the new star will eliminate. Thanks to that, we cannot see exactly what happened,” said astronomer Keri Hoadley, who is leading the new studio.

Evidence from other studies suggests that each star begins its life in the binary system. Based on this theory, some astronomers assume that ours too The sun had a twinwhich has lost over time. At the same time, this means that each binary system will merge over time or that one of the stars will eventually be ejected into space.

Scientists are not surprised by these theories, it is likely that if two stars orbit on each other, they will lose energy over time and their orbit will send them on a collision course. But to date, astronomers have only observed one case of stellar mergers. It took place in 2008 and has been historically the first star mergerthat we could observe.

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