A binary star supernova is a spectacular phenomenon where one of the stars in the system eventually collapses with an almost unimaginable explosion. Scientists at the University of California at Berkeley recently discovered a type of supernova that, fueled by helium instead of the usual carbon, is only about a tenth as bright as a normal supernova. A more frightening discovery is of a binary system in our own galaxy, only about 3,260 light years away, that had regular nova explosions every…
131
