The turbulent lives of stars
Thursday, September 15, 2011 - 12:30
in Astronomy & Space
The stars are boiling. The reason is the energy generated in the center of the star that wants to escape. If this does not happen quickly enough, the star starts to boil in the outer layers causing vibrations that result in light variations, like in the Sun. Such oscillations have now been discovered by Victoria Antoci and collaborators using the NASA spacecraft Kepler, but in a much hotter star. The scientists publish this in the most recent issue of Nature.