A white dwarf steals a drop of hydrogen from a neighboring star. The magnetic field twists it into a fuse that ignites every 20 days. This is a micronova — an explosion a million times weaker than a classical nova, but key to how magnetic fields orchestrate nuclear burning from white dwarfs to neutron stars.
🎯 The system IGR J17014-4306 was once linked to the Nova Scorpii of 1437, recorded by Korean astronomers. But it turned out to be a chance projection onto a planetary nebula. Instead, it now holds its own record: the longest orbital period among micronovae — 12.8 hours.