Scientists release first 3D simulation of the inside of a star

A new simulation from an international team of scientists has given some insight into the inner workings of a star and how stars twinkle.

At the heart of stars is extremely hot material the moves around similar to boiling water, or waves in the ocean. An example of how these waves are generated we need to think about the star similar to a boiling pot of water on a stovetop. Similar to a bubbling boiling pot of water, the plasma within the core of the star is pushed to the surface since heat always rises.

When this plasma hits the perimeter of the star it creates clash that reverberates through the star, creating what is known as gravitational waves. When these gravitational waves are generated they can affect the iconic twinkle that observers see. Now, a new study published in Nature Astronomy puts forward a new simulation of stellar gravity that may allow astronomers to accurately predict how much "twinkling" a star can do.

"Waves inside a star are like the waves you see in the ocean. So if you throw a stone into water, you see it generate waves that's moving away from where you threw the stone in," says May Gade Pedersen, an astronomer at the University of Sydney.

"If we can measure those waves, we can use them to tell, really precisely, how big the core is, what part of the star's life it's at ... or how big of a black hole it's going to leave behind," says Anders, an astronomer at Northwestern University's Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics. "It propagates through to everything else about big stars and what we're trying to figure out there."