Astronomers using ESO facilities in combination with telescopes in the Canary Islands have identified two surprisingly massive stars at the heart of the planetary nebula Henize 2-428. As they orbit each other the two stars are expected to slowly get closer and closer, and when they merge, about 700 million years from now, they will contain enough material to ignite a vast supernova explosion. The results will appear online in the journal Nature on 9 February 2015.
The release, images and videos are available on:
http://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1505/
Translations are available on other countries page: Österreich, België—Belgique—Belgien, Brasil, Chile, Česko, Danmark, Suomi, France, Deutschland, Ísland, Italia, Nederland, Norge, Polska, Portugal, Россия, Srbija, España, Sverige, Suisse—Schweiz—Svizzera, Türkiye, Україна
Kind regards,
The ESO Education and Public Outreach Department
9 February 2015
