Discovery of a Rare ‘Blue Lurker’ Star
- NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope identified a rare star class called “blue lurker” in the open star cluster M67, located 2,800 light-years away.
- The blue lurker is part of a triple-star system and has a complex evolutionary history involving interactions with other stars.
- It is similar to “blue stragglers,” which are brighter and hotter due to stellar mergers.
- The blue lurker spins significantly faster than typical Sun-like stars, completing a rotation in just four days compared to the usual 30 days.
- Its high spin rate suggests it has absorbed material from a companion star, enhancing its rotation speed.
- The star’s evolution involved a binary system merging into a more massive star, which later transferred material to the blue lurker.
- Currently, the blue lurker orbits a hot white dwarf, remnants of the earlier stellar merger.
- The findings highlight the importance of triple-star systems in understanding stellar evolution, though creating a reliable evolutionary model remains challenging.
- Emily Leiner from the Illinois Institute of Technology presented these results at the 245th meeting of the American Astronomical Society.
Hubble and James Webb Telescopes Discover Cosmic Milestones
- The James Webb Space Telescope has confirmed observations made by the Hubble Space Telescope regarding the farthest star detected in the early universe.
- Hubble has set a record by identifying a star that existed within the first billion years after the Big Bang.
- The young star HBC 672, nicknamed “Bat Shadow,” has been observed by Hubble displaying a unique “flapping” motion in its shadow.
- Recent discoveries include a variety of topics in space, energy, and technology, highlighting ongoing research and advancements in these fields.
- The article mentions various trending topics, including cosmic phenomena and technological