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TŻOs are thought to be formed by the interaction of two massive stars―a red supergiant and a neutron star formed during a supernova explosion―in a close binary system

the most commonly held theory suggests that, during the evolutionary interaction of the two stars

the much more massive red supergiant essentially swallows the neutron star, which spirals into the core of the red supergiant

Studying these objects

represents a completely new model of how stellar interiors can work

In these interiors we also have a new way of producing heavy elements in our universe

The astronomers

examined the spectrum of light emitted from apparent red supergiants, which tells them what elements are present

When the spectrum of one

star -- HV 2112

were quite surprised by some of the unusual features

took a close look at the subtle lines in the spectrum they found that it contained excess rubidium, lithium and molybdenum

Past research has shown that normal stellar processes can create each of these elements

high abundances of all three of these at the temperatures typical of red supergiants is a unique signature of TŻOs

careful to point out that HV 2112 displays some chemical characteristics that don't quite match theoretical models

There are some minor inconsistencies between some of the details of what we found and what theory predicts

But the theoretical predictions are quite old, and there have been a lot of improvements in the theory since then

actually two stars in one: a binary pair where a super-dense neutron star has been absorbed into its less dense supergiant

First theorized in 1975

difficult to find in real life because of their similarity to red supergiants,

It’s only through detailed spectroscopy that the particular chemical signatures

can be identified.

Only by absorbing a much hotter star — such as a neutron star left over from the explosive death of a more massive partner — is the production of such elements presumed to be possible