Recurrent novas and dwarf novas are usually less bright at their peak than the classic novas. Classic NovaĪ classic nova is a star that is dim and then becomes up to a million times brighter than its original brightness. The speed at which the nova explodes and repeats the process depends on the size and material of both the white dwarf and its companion star. The white dwarf survives this explosion and lives to repeat this process, making it a recurrent nova. After it combusts some of the material, it then calms. The white dwarf could take months to hundreds of years to go through this process and return to its original brightness.

This is what astronomers were seeing when they thought new stars were appearing in the sky! The explosion of the materials causes the white dwarf to suddenly become bright as it throws off some of the material. The hydrogen material begins to react specifically with helium. When the layers become compressed and hot enough, the material begins to combust and explode through thermonuclear reactions. As the layers are created, the material begins to grow hotter. Layers of material from the red giant gather on the surface of the white dwarf. The matter is quickly hurled towards the surface of the white dwarf.

The white dwarf takes fuel and matter, especially hydrogen, from its companion and pulls it towards itself. The white dwarf begins to pull on its companion, the red giant, with gravitational forces. The white dwarf is most likely paired with a red giant. The white dwarf is small and dense, and it is essentially the insides of a star that lost its outer layers: these are older stars that have lost their shine and fuel. You can think of these two stars as a pair or companion stars. Binary stars are two stars that are close together in the distance and revolve around each other. Binary Star SystemĬommonly, novas start as white dwarf stars that are part of a binary star system. A number of occurrences and events must happen for a star to become a nova.īefore the ability to see deep into space with modern instruments, astronomers would call a new star a nova, which means “new star.” This was slightly incorrect because these stars were already there, but they were just not bright enough to see with the naked eye.

However, a nova is a little more complex than just a star that gets very bright. This means a nova is a star that suddenly gets very bright for a short period of time. If you looked up its definition, you would find that a nova is a star that suddenly shows an increase in its level of brightness but slowly returns to its original state. What exactly is a nova star? What does it mean when a star goes nova?

Nova starr riding