BULGARIAN ASTRONOMERS DETECT COSMIC OBJECT IN ANDROMEDA GALAXY

Bulgarian astronomers detected a cosmic object in Andromeda Galaxy, called “red nova”. It is thought that such objects result from the merger of two close stars sharing single atmosphere.

An international team of scientists performs observations of the astronomical phenomenon. Alexander Kurtenkov, a doctoral candidate in astrophysics from Sofia University, Bulgaria, is the coordinator of the Bulgarian scientists’ team. Information about the discovery has been published in one of the most prestigious astronomical journals.

The Bulgarian scientists observed the outburst on 13th of January 2015 by using a telescope of Rozhen Observatory. It was originally identified as a classical nova, which results from the merger of two stars, one of which is a “white dwarf” – a small, dense and hot object. In Andromeda, such phenomena are observed 15 times a year. Although initially it looked like classical nova, further observations of the Bulgarian scientists identified it as a rare “red nova”.

According to the scientists, during the outburst the temperature increased to approximately 7,200 degrees, but after that started dropping and for about a month reached 3,800 degrees.

Usually, star with cooler surface is redder. The fact that we call it “red nova” does not mean they were red all the time, the astronomer explains. During the outburst, it looks like a classical nova, but over time the surface temperature changed and the object turned redder.

Bright flaring of a red star was first observed in 1988 in Andromeda Galaxy. Events of such kind were detected in 1994, 2002 and 2008.

The team of astronomers will continue to observe the newly detected object because they are curious to find how the temperature and the parameters of the system will change.