A cataclysmic variable is essentially a contact binary star where the other star is a white dwarf which is feeding off its fluffier companion. This can eventually lead to an explosive release of energy as the stuff piling up on the white dwarf goes beyond critical mass for fusion to happen.
[+]VeinyChild0 points0 points0 points
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[–]VeinyChild0 points
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Imgaine a 7 star contact system, something so close to collapsing into a black hole. I hope so much that one day I could at least orbit our sun in a space ship. Dodging solar flares and watching the plasma would be so exciting.
[–] VeinyChild 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
Today I learned what contact binary stars are. The stars are so close they share an atmosphere, imagine the magnetic noise that must make!
[–] otho03 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
This would be so amazing to see for real. I wonder if there could be more complex variations of this thing?
[–] Houndai 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
There are even fancier variations out there, yes.
A cataclysmic variable is essentially a contact binary star where the other star is a white dwarf which is feeding off its fluffier companion. This can eventually lead to an explosive release of energy as the stuff piling up on the white dwarf goes beyond critical mass for fusion to happen.
[–] VeinyChild ago (edited ago)
Imgaine a 7 star contact system, something so close to collapsing into a black hole. I hope so much that one day I could at least orbit our sun in a space ship. Dodging solar flares and watching the plasma would be so exciting.