28
Health & Science3h 58m ago

A new study from Caltech's Jim Fuller proposes a new model of the final death throes of Sun-like stars that shows how escaping mass from the stars' surfaces leads to a series of little kicks.

Archive Window: 7 Days Left

Pasadena

Who
Jim Fuller, Kareem El-Badry, Caltech
What
A new study from Caltech's Jim Fuller proposes a new model of the final death throes of Sun-like stars that shows how escaping mass from the stars' surfaces leads to a series of little kicks.
When
Mon, 15 Jun 2026 17:36:00 GMT · 3h 58m ago
Where
Pasadena ·
Why
Blobs of matter are chaotically being ejected from the surface of bloated stars in an asymmetric fashion, and every time that happens, the star gets a little kick in the opposite direction.
The Frontline Impact

How this affects you

This new model provides a physical explanation for observations about white dwarfs receiving kicks and could lead to new avenues of research into stellar collisions and explosions. It helps explain how widely spaced pairs of stars become less common once one star becomes a white dwarf.

Story chain

6 events in this thread

Verified Sources & Citations