“We have revealed the source of the most important explosions in cosmology,” Dr. Gilfanov said, adding that until now “we didn’t know exactly what they were.” ...
The satellite recorded only about one-thirtieth to one-fiftieth of the X-rays that would be expected from such white dwarfs, leading the astronomers to conclude that no more than 5 percent of the supernovas in those types of stellar systems could be produced by accreting white dwarfs.
NYTimes: Birth of a Supernova
NYTimes: Birth of a Supernova
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/23/scien ... 3star.html