Origins of the Outcast Supernova

THE STAR THAT WAS OUSTED

When news first came out from NASA about an amalgam of stars that were kicked out of the galaxy by a gigantic black hole, it sparked intrigue. However, the news about the star was soon accompanied by the ousted supernova which it eventually turned into.
In lieu of this news that was released on the 13th of August, a paper was published with the findings of the phenomenon in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. The findings include the author’s theory on the origins of the outcast supernova.

LEARNING MORE ABOUT THE OUTCAST SUPERNOVA

What is known about it is that the stars were flung out of the Milky Way by the gigantic black hole to where it say outside the system at a fast rate. However what was an interesting observation was that in studying the Hubble’s older images of the stars speeding to the outskirts was that the galaxies around were old and mergers.

Additionally, the location of the supernova indicated the stars that formed the supernova were old as well. Following this line of thought, the supernova may have had a companion, one that originally triggered the transition into supernova, becoming the outcast supernova the Hubble saw.

THE TRANSITION FROM BINARY STAR TO SUPERNOVA

Ryan Foley, the author of the aforementioned paper published a few days prior, theorized that a pair of black holes in merging galaxies could potentially create a slingshot effect to shoot the binary stars out into the universe just like it did with the outcast supernova. The process involves stars getting dragged into a black hole toward the center of the galaxy, and then get precariously close to another, external black hole that flings the unfortunate stars out of the galaxy.

After the stars are flung out, they slowly move closer and closer together, speeding up all stellar bodies’ aging process. The reasoning is that the stars grouped together are mostly white dwarfs; quite old, and at such magnificent speeds one dwarf shreds another.

As the remnants of the shredded dwarf hit the remaining one, it triggers the explosion needed to create a supernova. Thus, we have the outcast supernova without the trademark mega-explosion one would expect.

This brings us to the more interesting of why these things occurred. To keep up with the latest findings of the Hubble Telescope, you can follow it here.