NASA. BIG FORMAT. In Hollywood blockbusters, explosions are - Lot 269

NASA. BIG FORMAT. In Hollywood blockbusters, explosions are often the stars of the show. In space, stellar explosions are the focus of attention for scientists hoping to better understand their birth, life and death, as well as how they interact with their environment. Thanks to NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, astronomers have studied a particular explosion that could provide clues to the dynamics of other, much larger stellar eruptions. A team of researchers pointed the telescope at GK Persei, an object that caused a sensation in the world of astronomy in 1901 when it suddenly appeared as one of the brightest stars in the sky for a few days, before gradually losing its brightness. Today, astronomers cite GK Persei as an example of a "classic nova", a thermonuclear explosion on the surface of a white dwarf, the dense remnant of a Sun-like star. 2000.