• This artist’s impression shows VFTS 352 — the hottest and most massive double star system to date where the two components are in contact and sharing material.

This artist’s impression shows VFTS 352 — the hottest and most massive double star system to date where the two components are in contact and sharing material. (Photo : ESO/L. Calçada)

Astronomers have detected the most massive and hottest double star located in the Tarantula Nebula, some 160,000 light years away from Earth. 

The two stars originate from the VFTS 352 star system where they not only share the same orbit but they almost "kiss" one another, which can lead to merging into one gigantic star or creating a binary black hole.

Like Us on Facebook

With the help of the European Southern Observatory's (ESO) Very Large Telescope, the team led by Leonardo A. Almeida from the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, detected VFTS 352 which is considered to be the best example of a hot, massive double star making this a remarkable, crucial discovery.

Between the center of this double "kiss of death" stars, there is a distance of 7.4 million miles which means that both stars are so colossal that a bridge already formed across them. In total, the combined mass of the stars is equivalent to 57 suns.

Scientists believe that this type of binary star system is pivotal in creating galaxies where they are thought to be the original producers of elements like oxygen in the universe.

The two stars may also appear like they are sucking the life out of each other, hence the name, "vampire stars" where a smaller star sucks the outer layer of the larger star beside it, even if VFTS 352 are both identical in size.

Researchers believe that instead of one star devouring the matter from the other, they are now sharing about 30 percent of stellar matter. At this rate, researchers are still figuring out what the double stars' fate will be.

According to Hugues Sana from the University of Leuven, Belgium, the final merger will lead to one of the most powerful and energetic explosions in the universe that is also known as a long duration, gamma ray burst.

Another outcome involves the two massive stars completely avoiding this merger where the VFTS 352 system would end in supernova explosions, forming a close binary system of black holes, sending powerful gravitational waves across the universe, says astrophysicist Selma de Mink.