Mystery gas 'bullets' clock 20 million mph in rare space explosion
Astronomers have discovered that the star system V445 Puppis, which exploded 25 years ago, is ejecting gas 'bullets' at 20 million miles per hour. The system is unique because it lacks hydrogen, a key component in typical stellar explosions.
Why it matters
This discovery challenges existing models of stellar evolution and thermonuclear explosions in binary star systems.
For 25 years, a cloud of debris hid the source of the strangest explosion in our galaxy. Now the dust has cleared – and what’s inside raises more questions than it answers.
Imagine watching a firework go off, then waiting a quarter of a century for the smoke to drift away so you can see who lit the fuse.
That’s roughly the position astronomers have been in since late 2000, when a faint star in the southern constellation Puppis suddenly flared, threw off a colossal cloud of dust, and disappeared behind its own wreckage.
The star is called V445 Puppis. And it isn’t just any exploding star. It’s the only one of its kind ever confirmed in the Milky Way – a stellar detonation missing the one ingredient that fuels virtually every other explosion like it.
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