Astronomers have discovered the latest nova – it was shining in the Andromeda Nebula

Astronomer at the University of Liverpool. John Moore observed the explosion of a nova, a star whose brightness increases rapidly and slowly returns to its original state. It turned out to be the most “isolated” galaxy among the newly discovered galaxies. It is 150,000 light years away from its parent galaxy, the Andromeda Nebula. Nothing new has been observed at this distance.

The explosion of a new star involves the release of a huge amount of energy. This is the result of an accretion process in a close binary star system containing a white dwarf and its companion star. A white dwarf star in a close binary star system pulls the material of its partner towards itself before triggering a thermonuclear reaction that causes an explosion. The study of new processes is of great importance to expand our knowledge of fundamental astrophysical processes, including stellar evolution. Therefore, it was very important to observe the behavior of the new AT 2023prq, which was discovered by the temporary search function on August 15, 2023. Zwicky Transition Facility. The observations were made by astronomers Michael Healy Karesh and Daniel Perley. They used both observational data from the university’s telescopes and other instruments. Based on the obtained data, scientists came to the conclusion that the new AT 2023prq is one of the classic novelties. The absolute maximum brightness reached -7.6 mag. Surprisingly, the brightness decreased by 2 units in just under 4 days. Because behind the brightness increase is the actual thermonuclear explosion of the white dwarf’s material, it usually takes many weeks.

Another surprise was that the nova was located 150,000 light-years away from its parent galaxy. Its home galaxy is the Andromeda Nebula. Officially, the new AT 2023prq has a halo. This is the most distant nova of all novae observed to date. There are definitely things scientists should consider when analyzing data about this star and the processes involved in its eruptions.

source: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2515-5172/ad0a99