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Small snowflakes of radioactive uranium that causes huge nuclear explosions may clarify some of the world s more bizarre star blasts.
(Photo : Peter Dopper)
Death of the Miniature Stars
As miniature stars die, they cool into husks of their old selves called white dwarfs. A recent study suggests that atoms of uranium sink to the core of these aging white dwarf stars as they cool, icing into snowflake-like crystals no larger than grains of sand.
Illinois State University s theoretical physicist and study co-author Matt Caplan explained that these snowflakes can function as many of the tiniest nuclear bombs in the galaxy, becoming the force that breaks off the powder keg.