What Causes Symbiotic Novae to Re-Explode?

[En_lizard]

what mechanism make them to re-explode? what are symbiotic novae ?

 

[stevebd1]

White Dwarfs can go nova by accreting hydrogen from a neighbouring star; the gas is compressed by the extreme gravity of the white dwarf causing a thermonuclear runaway explosion on the surface (temperatures up to 20 million k). During a nova explosion, the energy released can equal what the sun emits over 10,000 years. The mass ejected only makes up about 1/10,000th of the white dwarfs mass, which means the star stays intact and can return to its prenova state. The process can be repeated every few thousand years.

 

[En_lizard]

except wiki where i can find a nice article on nova?

 

[stevebd1]

http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/star/nova/1997/29/text/

The 'cosmic cinema' by the Max Planck Institute also has a short, low res video regarding Nova-
http://www.mpa-garching.mpg.de/museum/museum/index_e.html

 

[En_lizard]

thanks steve!