The lives of binary stars can be explosive

The life of binary stars plays an important role in “The Dark and Dynamic Universe” research themes of CAASTRO, the Australian Centre for All-sky Astrophysics. For binary star systems where one star is more massive than the other, the mass transfer between the two components of the binary system will eventually lead to a thermonuclear explosion called a Type Ia Supernova.

Credit: CAASTRO/Swinburne Astronomy Productions