Dead Star's Supernova Explosion Could Be Visible From Earth During Daytime, Study Predicts

Scientists have found a dead star that could soon explode in a supernova sso bright that the explosion might be visible to the naked eye on Earth during the day. Located 10,000 light-years from Earth, V Sagittae is a white dwarf star that has been on a feeding frenzy, gorging upon a companion star for matter.

As per scientists, the two stars are locked in an "extraterrestrial tango", orbiting each other every 12.3 hours and drawing closer together. The study was conducted by an international team of astronomers, with the findings published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

"V Sagittae is no ordinary star system - it's the brightest of its kind and has baffled experts since it was first discovered in 1902. Our study shows that this extreme brightness is down to the white dwarf sucking the life out of its companion star, using the accreted matter to turn it into a blazing inferno," team member and University of Southampton researcher Phil Charles said in a statement.

"It's a process so intense that it's going thermonuclear on the white dwarf's surface, shining like a beacon in the night sky."

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Bright halo

Using the powerful European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile, scientists found a ring of gas, akin to a giant halo, around the two stars. The unexpected ring has been formed from the debris of the white dwarf, which cannot consume all the mass being transferred from its hot star twin.

The halo also indicates that the white dwarf is devouring matter more than it can handle, which means the situation is not going to continue for long.

"The matter accumulating on the white dwarf is likely to produce a nova outburst in the coming years, during which V Sagittae would become visible with the naked eye," Pablo Rodriguez-Gil from Spain's Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias said.

Mr Rodriguez-Gil added that when the two stars eventually smash into each other, the supernova explosion would be a spectacular sight from Earth.