The Astrology of Space - Matrix Software

The Astrology of Space
bubble or expanding envelope becomes transparent
as the expanding shell evolves into a nebula. The
total amount of stellar material lost is small, perhaps
one thousandth of the star's mass or less.
Dwarf Novae, Novae, and Recurrent Novae
The brightness or luminosity of an ordinary nova may
increase by a factor of 100,000 (12.5 magnitudes)
within only a day or two. This sudden brightening of
the star into a nova results from a sudden swelling of
the photosphere – an explosion. Although both the
temperature and radius of the star undergo change
through the nova process, the rapid expansion of the
star's radius is by far the more important of the two.
The temperature even grows cooler as the star nears
maximum.
Examination of the spectra (see Spectral Types) of
novae bears out the idea that an explosion is taking
place. Bright lines appear and become progressively
more prominent. This is an indication that matter has
left the surface of the star and surrounded it with kind
of an extensive chromosphere. As the nova process
continues, spectral analysis gives evidence of
decreasing density. Bright lines, characteristic of most
diffuse nebulae, appear and it is therefore understood
that the envelope of the star is expanding into the
surrounding space. A portion of the star is ejected.
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