A group of astronomers from the University of Chicago discovered traces of a supernova that exploded in our galaxy, violating the known laws of physics. He was an ancient star born at the dawn of time. According to the rules, he should have ended his life with a black hole, but instead he was dragged through the universe in a supernova explosion.

Scientists named the unknown star “Barbenheimer” to perpetuate a popular meme. Just as it is impossible to combine the stories in the Barbie and Oppenheimer movies, the Barbenheimer star constantly consists of impossible situations.

It is necessary to emphasize that Barbenheimer exploded quite a long time ago. Scientists eventually learned about its existence and the consequences of life through indirect observations and modeling. This is how experienced detectives learn the details of the crime based on evidence left at the scene. Barbenheimer’s remnants were detected in the spectrum of the star J0931+0038. It is a relatively low-mass red giant that appears in our galaxy’s halo (not in the plane of the Milky Way, but much higher).

The chemical composition of J0931+0038 turned out to be so strange that scientists had to model the conditions of its formation. The most likely case was that the star J0931+0038 formed from a cloud of interstellar gas with an unexpected chemical elemental composition. Calculations showed that the progenitor of J0931+0038 must have been a giant ancient star with a mass of 50 to 80 solar masses. The paradox is that stars of similar mass collapse into black holes instead of floating away in a cloud of matter synthesized in their bowels.

If the “Barbenheimer” existed, almost all of the matter synthesized in it would have to be compressed before the black hole formed. However, it became a true supernova, ejecting its shell and eventually becoming the cradle of the birth of the star J0931+0038. Scientists can still somehow explain the individual facts of the observed phenomenon, but everything together represents a mystery that has not yet been solved. It will be solved.