Astronomers May Have Solved, the Mystery Surrounding , Blue Supergiant Stars.<br />'Newsweek' reports that astronomers now believe <br />that some of the brightest and hottest stars in existence <br />may be the result of collisions between two other stars.<br />Scientists have long sought to determine <br />how these intensely bright stars, <br />known as blue supergiants, are formed. .<br />According to a new paper published by <br />'The Astrophysical Journal Letters,' scientists <br />suggest that blue supergiants are the result <br />of two binary stars merging into one.<br />Blue supergiants, which are about 16 to 40 <br />times the mass of our sun, are some of <br />the most massive stars in the universe. .<br />Their intensely hot surface temperatures <br />are often two to five times hotter than our <br />sun and over 10,000 times more luminous.<br />'Newsweek' reports that the latest research <br />looked at 59 early B-Type blue supergiant <br />stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud, <br />a satellite galaxy of our own Milky Way galaxy. .<br />We simulated the mergers <br />of evolved giant stars with <br />their smaller stellar companions <br />over a wide range of parameters, <br />taking into account the interaction <br />and mixing of the two stars <br />during the merger, Athira Menon, study author and an astrophysicist at the Instituto <br />de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) in Spain, via 'Newsweek'.<br />The newly-born stars <br />live as blue supergiants <br />throughout the second <br />longest phase of a star's life, <br />when it burns helium in its core, Athira Menon, study author and an astrophysicist at the Instituto <br />de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) in Spain, via 'Newsweek'.<br />The results obtained explain <br />why blue supergiants are found <br />in the so-called 'evolutionary gap' <br />from classical stellar physics, <br />a phase of their evolution where <br />we would not expect to find stars, Artemio Herrero, study co-author and a researcher at the Instituto <br />de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) in Spain, via 'Newsweek'.<br />The team reportedly hopes to continue its <br />investigation into the role that merging stars <br />could play in the formation of galaxies, as well as how <br />blue supergiants form neutron stars or black holes. .<br />The team reportedly hopes to continue its <br />investigation into the role that merging stars <br />could play in the formation of galaxies, as well as how <br />blue supergiants form neutron stars or black holes.
