PTF 11kx (1 of 2) (VIDEO) DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory This video is under embargo. Please login to access this video. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Caption This video shows an artist's conception of a binary star system that produces recurrent novae, and ultimately, the supernova PTF 11kx. A red giant star (foreground) loses some of its outer layers though a stellar wind, and some of it forms a disk around a companion white dwarf star. This material falls onto the white dwarf, causing it to experience periodic nova eruptions every few decades. When the mass builds up to near the ultimate limit a white dwarf star can take, it explodes as a Type Ia supernova, destroying the white dwarf. Credit Romano Corradi and the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias Usage Restrictions None License Licensed content Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.