Word: companion
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Degenerate matter is so resistant to further compression that nothing much can happen to a white dwarf unless, as is common in the Milky Way, it is part of a binary star system. If it is, the white dwarf's powerful gravity can draw gaseous matter away from its companion. In some cases, as the dwarf becomes bloated with its companion's substance, gravitational pressure triggers a fusion reaction in the captured gases, which are blown off in the explosion, resulting in a garden-variety (nonsuper) nova. According to Astrophysicist Branch, about 50 novas are observed flaring up each year...
...Nonetheless, he was basically correct: first fire, then ice. The fire will not be an explosion like the one now brightening the Large Magellanic Cloud; the sun is thought to have only about a tenth of the mass necessary to become a Type II supernova and has no stellar companion to contribute the mass necessary to turn it into a Type I blast. But that will be of little comfort to whatever creatures exist on earth when the sun is in its death throes; the $ final solar convulsions, while feeble compared to those of a supernova, will wipe...
...directions, meets at its center, a shock wave bounces back out in a tremendous explosion that blows apart the star's outermost layers. A Type I explosion occurs when a gravitationally powerful white dwarf star that is part of a binary star system draws gas from its nearby companion. When it accumulates too much, reaching a critical mass about 1.4 times as great as our sun's, it blows...
...companion stories round out our coverage of the AIDS phenomenon. Associate Editor Claudia Wallis examines the ability of U.S. doctors to deal with the 270,000 cases expected by 1991, and Staff Writer Michael Serrill explores the lessons to be learned from the battle against the virus in Africa, where the disease appears to be raging in pandemic proportions...
John H. Lindauer '88 spent more than a month filming the group, the Newcity Rockers, and using animation and microfilming techniques to create the three-minute video, which MTV is now considering as a companion for the group's song, "Black...