Hand rubbing nuclear fusion live in the wilderness

Chapter 488 Betelgeuse's Carbon Flash
From this photo, Han Yuan can easily see the fringe belt and the dark orange high-temperature plasma spread all over the core.

For an outer space telescope that mainly observes infrared light, any object that can emit infrared light cannot escape its observation.

For a massive star in its later years of life, although it is normal to eject high-temperature plasma gas, it is not normal for the number to be as large as Betelgeuse in front of you.

Dense hot gas indicates that the star in front of it is experiencing intense activity.

This may be a super-large-scale stellar activity. Judging from those tassels, it may be a prominence explosion covering the entire star. It is indeed possible to throw out a large amount of stellar matter.

But Won's intuition told him that it might not be that simple.

For a star, stars with different masses and ages have different internal structures.

Take the sun as an example. To put it simply, the innermost part is the core region, which contains substances whose density is more than ten times higher than that of lead. Here, the fusion of stars as we know it, including synthesis reactions, etc. takes place.

Then outwards are the radiative region, the convective region, the photosphere region, the chromosphere region, the corona, and the solar wind
This is the general structure of an ordinary star, and Betelgeuse is similar, except that its layers are larger.

Based on such a structure, the so-called prominence reaction is nothing but a very strong stellar activity produced on the "chromosphere" of a star.

Most of the prominences exist in the very thin corona.

This means that no matter how intense the activity of the prominence is, the material ejected by it is nothing compared to the whole star, and it is really too insignificant.

However, based on the photo in front of him and a simple calculation of the high-temperature plasma in the general range in the picture, Han Yuan found that if calculated according to the data in the picture, the amount of ultra-high-temperature plasma material scattered around Betelgeuse The quantity has almost reached about one millionth of the total mass of Betelgeuse.

One part per million sounds very little, but for a star, it is already a lot, and it is impossible for normal prominence activities to lose such a high mass.

In a super-scale solar prominence activity that spreads over the entire star, the amount of matter ejected each time will not exceed one part in a billion billion.

And most of the ejected matter will fall back to the surface of the star under the strong gravitational force of the star itself, and it will not appear the appearance that can almost cover the entire star.

Therefore, Han Yuan feels that the high-temperature plasma nebula covering the entire Betelgeuse is not caused by super-large-scale solar prominence activities or other normal stellar activities.

As for the specific reason, he had a guess in his heart, but more evidence was needed.

If it can be confirmed, this may be the closest and most brilliant cosmic spectacle to the earth.

With this doubt, Han Yuan began to look for other evidence from the photos.

Soon, he discovered the clues of the second part.

For a massive star, it is not impossible to go to the end of its life, or before it begins to explode violently to form a supernova, without warning.

It is logical that a runaway process of internal thermonuclear reactions would lead to a violent increase in light radiation, a sharp change in the internal structure and a violent eruption of gas.

This is confirmed by the photos taken by the Zero infrared light outer space telescope.

After continuously zooming in on the photo, in the core area of ​​Betelgeuse, Han Yuan finally found a little clue - a region with a brightness different from that of the surrounding area. '

Through the spectral data calculated by the central computer analysis, the spectral primary color of this 'abnormal brightness zone' can be confirmed.

It is derived from carbon fusion, commonly known as 'carbon flash'.

For a star, the greater its mass, the stronger the gravitational force on its core. Under the action of gravity, the temperature of the star's core will become very high.

The extremely high temperature will cause this star on the edge of 'dying' to trigger the nuclear fusion reaction of carbon, oxygen, and generate magnesium, silicon, phosphorus, sulfur and other elements.

Among them, the nuclear fusion reaction of carbon is extremely fast. After this reaction occurs, it will flash within 0.01 seconds to 0.9 seconds under normal circumstances.

But there are also those that last for a long time, and this carbon nuclear fusion phenomenon is called "carbon flash" in the professional field of astrophysics, and it is also the information data observed by Won.

Since carbon fusion, aka carbon flash, is so fast that it only exists in the fraction of a second, it takes a certain amount of luck to photograph it.

The activities of carbon fusion and carbon flash only occur in the interior of massive stars.

If you want to observe him from the outside world, not only the timing of the shooting is needed, but also the scale of the carbon flash is quite large, and the destructive power of the carbon flash needs to be able to break through the outer shell of the star before it can be observed by the outside world.

So it takes a lot of luck to observe it, and it just so happens that this photo, this luck won.

When he uttered his speculation, there was an uproar in the live broadcast room.

[Carbon flash?Carbon fusion? 】

[Carbon Flash, this reminds me of Helium Flash, the book in a certain big eyeball is also called 'Lori Lion Roar'. 】

[I don’t understand, I don’t know, I only know about hydrogen fusion and helium fusion. 】

[Stuck in this live broadcast room, I feel that my knowledge is so lacking every day, so lacking that I want to cry, I can't understand what the anchor is saying. 】

[The anchor said that carbon flash needs to break through the shell of the star to be observed, which shows that carbon flash is extremely destructive, will it blow up the entire star? 】

[It is possible that carbon flashes are one of the causes of a supernova explosion of a massive star. 】

【So Betelgeuse is about to explode? 】

[Excited.jpg, hurry up!Maybe you can watch a firework if it explodes. 】

[Now it is really difficult to see the stars in the city, most of the starlight is covered by the light and dust on the ground. 】

[You can explode as you wish, as long as the gamma-ray bursts from the explosion do not face the earth. 】

[It’s okay to face the earth, anyway, all life will be finished in a second, everyone is the same, there is no pain. 】

[If Betelgeuse blows up, it will be the number one searched that day, right? 】

[Let Wang Toutiao come and announce the concert tomorrow, and Betelgeuse will explode tomorrow. 】

[Wang Toutiao: Did labor and management provoke you? 】

[There is also a rain god, the two characters who are the least likely to stand up, the more they stand, the more stable they are! 】

[The last time the Rain God came to Xijiang, it really rained in Xijiang. 】

In the live broadcast room, the audience was discussing and discussing constantly. A carbon flash occurred on Betelgeuse, which may cause it to explode as a supernova.

After all, comparing a human lifespan of several decades to the universe's lifespan of more than [-] billion years, not even one breath counts.

And in this short life of a few decades, it is possible to see one of the most splendid fireworks in the universe, no matter how you say it, it is worth it.

In comparison, although experts from various countries are equally excited, they have more things to consider.

Although it has been calculated that the magnetic pole of Betelgeuse and the Earth have an angle of deviation of more than 20 degrees, the gamma-ray burst formed by the supernova explosion is not aimed at the Earth.

But who can say for sure about a supernova explosion?

Maybe because of some external factors, or an accident occurred during the collapse of the core of Betelgeuse, it is also possible that the angle of the gamma-ray burst changed.

After all, Betelgeuse is too close to the earth of the earth.

The distance of 640 light-years is a very long distance, but for the universe, the earth and Betelgeuse are neighbors.

If there is a fire in your neighbor's house, you must also worry about the fire burning in your own house.

This is a normal thought.

Won is also a little worried about the activities of Betelgeuse, but what Won is worried about is not the threat to the earth caused by the gamma-ray burst formed by the explosion of Betelgeuse's supernova.

What he worried about was the threat to the earth caused by the neutron star formed after the explosion of Betelgeuse.

Judging from the mass of Betelgeuse, after a supernova explosion, it will form a neutron star with a high probability, and a black hole with a small probability.

It depends on the form of its outbreak.

If stellar activity such as a carbon flash causes it to explode, it will 100% form a neutron star.

But if the iron core inside it is not enough to support the mass beyond the Chandrasekhar limit because of the 'electron degeneracy pressure', it will collapse from the core to become a neutron star or a black hole.

If a black hole is formed, it will have little impact on the earth.

At a distance of 640 billion light years, with the mass of Betelgeuse, the formed black hole cannot interfere with the solar system.

But if it is a neutron star, the threat to the earth will be raised several levels.

Because there are some special classifications in neutron stars, such as pulsating neutron stars and magnetars, what Korean Won is worried about is pulsating neutron stars.

Although the threat of a magnetar is also great, its formation needs to reach [-] times the mass of the sun, and such a star can only form when it explodes in a supernova.

The mass of Betelgeuse is only twenty times that of the sun, so it cannot form a magnetar, and can only choose one of neutron stars and black holes.

A pulsar neutron star is a special kind of neutron star, which rotates at a very high speed, and the fastest can reach more than one thousand revolutions per second.

And this high-speed rotation will cause the neutron star's magnetic field poles to eject huge pulses of energy beams, which emit pulses at a frequency of about [-] times per second, which can continue to shine for millions of years.

More importantly, during this magnetic storm, the pulsed neutron star often bursts out gamma rays and X-rays, and ejects high-energy particles.

Although these gamma rays and X-rays are much smaller in scale than those formed by supernova explosions.

But it can't stand the large number, frequent outbreaks, and it is too close to the earth.

The distance of 640 light-years is really a close neighbor to the cosmic space.

This extremely frequent gamma ray and X-ray and ejection of high-energy particles, if the angle is right, have a great impact on the earth.

Some people may say, isn't the magnetic pole of Betelgeuse and the earth have an angle difference of [-] degrees?No matter how it explodes, it will not affect the earth.

This is correct, but the problem is that a pulsar neutron star rotating at a high speed will produce a star angle difference.

It is like a huge tumbler, while rotating, the magnetic poles are constantly deviated at a certain angle.

And this deviation can basically cover the earth.

This is what Won is most worried about.

(End of this chapter)