A Star Begins to Explode (IMAGE)

University of Chicago

A Star Begins to Explode

Caption

During the first tenths of a second after a slightly off-center ignition in a stellar white dwarf, a hot bubble of nuclear ash grows slowly as the nuclear flame burns slowly through the center of the star. (The rings seen at the surface of the star in all of the images are an artifact of the visualization of the simulation, and are not present in the simulation itself.)

Credit

University of Chicago Flash Center

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