What is Nova?

About Nova:

• It is a special class of transient astronomical event that causes the sudden appearance of a bright, apparently new star that slowly fades over weeks or months, during their outburst.
• Novae occur in binary star systems where a dense, Earth-sized white dwarf star orbits closely with a Sun-like companion.
• The white dwarf’s strong gravitational pull draws matter from its companion, creating an intense accumulation of material on its surface.
• This process triggers powerful thermonuclear reactions, producing a sudden bright burst visible as a nova.
• A nova reaches maximum luminosity within hours after its outburst and may shine intensely for several days 

Significance of the research

• Researchers discovered ultraviolet emission from 42 novae, a special class of stellar explosions, and even caught four of them in the act of outburst itself.
• This could help scientists study these interacting binary star systems in our nearest neighbor galaxy at different phases of their life, some piling up matter from their companion, while others spewing it into space.

Key facts about the Andromeda galaxy

• The Andromeda Galaxy, also called Messier 31 or M31, is the nearest major galaxy to the Milky Way. 
• It is 2.5 million light years away from Earth and is the other major member of the Local Group, our local collection of galaxies. 
• Like the Milky Way, it is a barred spiral galaxy, so-called for the bar-like structure formed by the stars in its center

Q1: What is a white dwarf?

It is the stellar core left behind after a dying star has exhausted its nuclear fuel and expelled its outer layers to form a planetary nebula. It is what stars like the Sun become after they have exhausted their nuclear fuel.

News: In a first, Indian Institute of Astrophysics astronomers spot ultraviolet emissions from novae in Andromeda galaxy