Scientists reveal a new observation of the rise and fall of a cloud of dust around a stellar remnant. The discovery was performed during a two year period of observations by group of astronomers. they conducted a study and observed changes in the dust Shell of nova V339 Delphini, improving their knowledge about this type of phenomena. This is the very first time that this type of event and the synthesis of lithium in the process are observed. Scientists conducting this study observed a rapid growth and decline of the size of the dust grains in the Nova star.
V330 Delphini
This is a bright nova located in the direction of the constellation Delphinus. It was discovered on august 14, 2013. It had a magnitude of 6.8 at the time of its discovery and changed to magnitude 4.3 two days later. A nova is generated when a white dwarf star accrues matter from a companion star in a binary system. This nova is the first that is known to synthesize lithium, which was observed in the dust blown out of the nova, providing the first evidence of the supply of this element to the interstellar medium.
Dust formation around the nova
One month after the discovery of V339 Del, astronomers noticed a cloud of dust formation around the nova. Through the analyzes of data from various observatories, astronomers were able to understand the process.
The data of these observations was collected during a two year period, which permitted astronomers to recognize an apparent rise and decline size of the grains contained in the stellar remnant. They also discovered that the condensation temperature of the dust grains was of 1,480° K at the time of formation.
Grains gained size then decayed rapidly
The detailed findings contained in a science paper reveal that the dust formation occurred around the 34th day of observations and that the emission in the infrared spectrum was pervaded by the dust. It is thought that the mass of the dust shell that was produced had a mass of around 5 billion solar masses.
The dust grains gained a size of a few micrometers. This was followed by a rapid growth of the mass of the grains and a decrease in temperature. This growth peaked around 100 days after its production and then decayed rapidly.
Scientists believe that the rise and suddenly decline of the dust shell in this nova was caused by the charging of the dust grains due to the emission of X-rays, leading to the destruction of the grains. Scientists excluded the possibility of the fragmentation of the grains due to evaporation, as the temperature was far below the temperature (1,800 K), which is required for the sublimation of carbon rich settings. This discovery opens new knowledge in Astronomy.
