According to a study published this week in Nature Astronomy, scientists studying a group of stars made an astonishing but "serendipitous" discovery when they realized that one of the stars was the "stripped core of a massive star."
That means that the star's nuclear fusion powered core is missing.
The scientists theorize that the stripping of the atmospheric envelope may have been caused by the running out of hydrogen in the star and its companion. It appears that something went wrong in the middle of that process, and possibly led to the two stars merging.
The scientists think that the mass of the Sun could have been up to 12 times the mass of the other planets. It's a relatively small group of 5 stars.
There is a theory that a naked stellar core missing its envelope exists, but it has never been observed in a star of this size.
In an interview with Vice, the study co-author said that the naked stellar core of the mass is unique.
There wasn't a lot of evidence for the cores of mass in between, Pryzbilla said.
According to the study, it's an exceedingly rare find because the star will only last 10,000 years.
Przybilla told Vice that it was very short and long for humans. It will remain as a strange object.
Scientists could use the opportunity to look into the evolution of the stars. Whatever astronomer learns from the star, it's a fascinating glimpse at stellar destruction.
Years after eating a star, a black hole was spotted burping up material.
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