Main sequence stars fuse hydrogen in their cores. It’s how they produce the energy they need to shine and keeps them from collapsing under their own weight. As hydrogen is fused into helium, there is less hydrogen available in the core. This can pose a challenge for large stars. They need to fuse a tremendous amount of hydrogen to keep shining, and they can’t do that when core hydrogen is depleted. Fortunately, they can solve this problem by mixing more hydrogen into their core. A new study in Nature Astronomy shows us how this mixing happens.
Continue reading “Massive Stars Mix Hydrogen in Their Cores, Causing Them to Pulse Every few Hours or Days”Massive Stars Mix Hydrogen in Their Cores, Causing Them to Pulse Every few Hours or Days
