The powerful thermonuclear explosions on the surfaces of two white dwarfs have been resolved in detail for the first time, revealing that these eruptions are more complex than previously thought.
The findings are courtesy of the Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy (CHARA) array, which is an optical interferometer that combines the light of six telescopes on Mount Wilson in California. CHARA targeted two events of this kind, which astronomers call nova eruptions.
