Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have made a unique timelapse of R Aquarii’s dynamic behavior from observations spanning from 2014 to 2023.
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Two stars in the R Aquarii binary system are separated by about 1.6 billion miles. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Matthias Stute / Margarita Karovska / Davide De Martin / Mahdi Zamani / N. Bartmann, ESA & Hubble.
Located 650 light-years away, R Aquarii is a so-called symbiotic binary, comprising two stars surrounded by a large, dynamic cloud of gas.
Such binaries contain two stars in an unequal and complex relationship — a white dwarf and a red giant.
In a disquieting act of stellar cannibalism, the white dwarf is stripping matter from its larger companion.
The tormented red giant and the unstable white dwarf occasionally eject matter in weird spurts, loops and trails.
“The twisted stellar outflows make the region look like a lawn sprinkler gone berserk,” the Hubble astronomers said in a statement.
“This dramatically demonstrates how the universe redistributes the products of nuclear energy that form deep inside stars and jet back into space.”
“R Aquarii belongs to a class of double stars called symbiotic stars,” they added.
“The primary star is an aging red giant and its companion is a compact burned-out star known as a white dwarf.”
“The red giant primary star is classified as a Mira variable that is over 400 times larger than our Sun.”
“The bloated monster star pulsates, changes temperature, and varies in brightness by a factor of 750 times over a roughly 390-day period.”
“At its peak the star is blinding at nearly 5,000 times our Sun’s brightness.”
“When the white dwarf star swings closest to the red giant along its 44-year orbital period, it gravitationally siphons off hydrogen gas.”
“This material accumulates on the dwarf star’s surface until it undergoes spontaneous nuclear fusion, making that surface explode like a gigantic hydrogen bomb.”
“After the outburst, the fueling cycle begins again.”
“This outburst ejects geyser-like filaments shooting out from the core, forming weird loops and trails as the plasma emerges in streamers.”
“The plasma is twisted by the force of the explosion and channeled upwards and outwards by strong magnetic fields.”
“The outflow appears to bend back on itself into a spiral pattern.”
“The plasma is shooting into space over 1.6 million km (1 million miles) per hour — fast enough to travel from Earth to the Moon in 15 minutes.”
“The filaments are glowing in visible light because they are energized by blistering radiation from the stellar duo.”
