June 4, 2013

Whole Earth Telescope focuses on burned-out stars



Like a CSI unit, a team of astronomers at observatories worldwide has been digging around in the innards of dead stars, collecting evidence on how they died. One of the dead stars actually ate part of its neighbor; another has a history of other astronomical hijinks.

The Whole Earth Telescope (WET), a worldwide network of observatories with its command center at the University of Delaware, periodically focuses on stars of scientific interest in the galaxy’s stellar graveyard.