In 2014, at the distance of 509.5 million light-years from Earth, the supernova (almost final stage of evolution of some stars) IPTF14hls was discovered. A few months later, the outbreak predictably died out, but then, for unknown reasons, the supernova flared up again!
Cosmological models suggest that, depending on the mass of the star, certain stages of evolution go through and it is possible to predict the final of this or that star. Supernova is a predictable phenomenon, but something abnormal is happening in the case of IPTF14hls.
For 5 years, IPTF14hls flashed a supernova dozens of times, which cannot be explained by any of the theories put forward. Raising the astronomical archives, scientists were extremely surprised, because the flash from the side of this star was first recorded in 1954.
“This star seems to be immortal. It is not known how long the observed process continues, but no theory can explain this phenomenon. The star lives by its own rules and this is a problem for modern science, ”said Ayr Arkavi, an astronomer from the University of California.
Many scientists are inclined to believe that iPTF14hls is a completely new, unexplored class of stars that explode in several stages over centuries or even millennia. The anomalous phenomenon is still ongoing, and perhaps astronomers can still find the answer.
