ABSTRACT The planetary nebula stage is the ultimate fate of stars with masses one to eight times that of the Sun (). The origin of their complex morphologies is poorly understood1, although

several mechanisms involving binary interaction have been proposed2,3. In close binary systems, the orbital separation is short enough for the primary star to overfill its Roche lobe as the

star expands during the asymptotic giant branch phase. The excess gas eventually forms a common envelope surrounding both stars. Drag forces then result in the envelope being ejected into a

bipolar planetary nebula whose equator is coincident with the orbital plane of the system. Systems in which both stars have ejected their envelopes and are evolving towards the white dwarf

This supports the hypothesis of the double-degenerate, super-Chandrasekhar evolutionary pathway for the formation of type Ia supernovae4. Access through your institution Buy or subscribe

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SUPER-CHANDRASEKHAR MASS TYPE IA SUPERNOVA PROGENITOR AT 49 PC SET TO DETONATE IN 23 GYR Article Open access 04 April 2025 A 62-MINUTE ORBITAL PERIOD BLACK WIDOW BINARY IN A WIDE

HIERARCHICAL TRIPLE Article 04 May 2022 A HOT SUBDWARF–WHITE DWARF SUPER-CHANDRASEKHAR CANDIDATE SUPERNOVA IA PROGENITOR Article 12 July 2021 REFERENCES * Balick, B. & Frank, A. Shapes

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ATLAS9 model atmospheres. Preprint at http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0405087 (2004) Download references ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This work is based on observations made with the 1 m SAAO (South

Africa Astronomical Observatory), the 1.2 m Mercator, the 2.5 m INT (Isaac Newton Telescope), the 4.2 m WHT (William Herschel Telescope), the 8.2 m VLT and the 10.4 m GTC telescopes. We are

grateful to T. Marsh for the use of the PAMELA and MOLLY codes, to T. Hillwig, O. Pols and J. Alcolea for their comments and to J. García-Rojas and C. Zurita for the INT/WFC (Wide Field

Camera) service observations. This work was partially supported by the Spanish MINECO within grants CSD2009–00038, AYA2012–35330, RYC–2010–05762 and AYA 2012–38700. AUTHOR INFORMATION

AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * Observatorio Astronómico Nacional, Apartado de Correos 112, E-28803, Alcalá de Henares, Spain, M. Santander-García * Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Madrid

(CSIC), Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, 3, E-28049 Madrid, Spain, M. Santander-García * Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, E-38200 La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain, P. Rodríguez-Gil, R. L. M.

Corradi & D. Jones * Departamento de Astrofísica, Universidad de La Laguna, E-38205 La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain, P. Rodríguez-Gil, R. L. M. Corradi & D. Jones * South African

Astronomical Observatory, PO Box 9, Observatory 7935, South Africa, B. Miszalski & M. M. Kotze * Southern African Large Telescope Foundation, PO Box 9, Observatory 7935, South Africa, B.

Miszalski * European Southern Observatory, Alonso de Córdova 3107, 19001 Casilla, Santiago, Chile, H. M. J. Boffin * Centro de Astrobiología, CSIC-INTA, Carretera de Torrejón a Ajalvir, km

4, E-28850 Torrejón de Ardoz, Spain, M. M. Rubio-Díez Authors * M. Santander-García View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * P. Rodríguez-Gil

View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * R. L. M. Corradi View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar *

D. Jones View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * B. Miszalski View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google

Scholar * H. M. J. Boffin View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * M. M. Rubio-Díez View author publications You can also search for this author

inPubMed Google Scholar * M. M. Kotze View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar CONTRIBUTIONS M.S.-G., P.R.-G., D.J., M.M.R.-D., H.M.J.B. and

M.M.K. conducted the observations at the various telescopes. M.S.-G., P.R.-G., D.J. and M.M.K. reduced the data. M.S.-G. performed the light-curve and radial-velocity-curve modelling, and

wrote the paper. All authors discussed the results and implications and commented on the manuscript at all stages. CORRESPONDING AUTHOR Correspondence to M. Santander-García. ETHICS

DECLARATIONS COMPETING INTERESTS The authors declare no competing financial interests. POWERPOINT SLIDES POWERPOINT SLIDE FOR FIG. 1 POWERPOINT SLIDE FOR FIG. 2 POWERPOINT SLIDE FOR FIG. 3

POWERPOINT SLIDE FOR FIG. 4 SOURCE DATA SOURCE DATA TO FIG. 1 SOURCE DATA TO FIG. 2 RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Santander-García, M.,

Rodríguez-Gil, P., Corradi, R. _et al._ The double-degenerate, super-Chandrasekhar nucleus of the planetary nebula Henize 2-428. _Nature_ 519, 63–65 (2015).

https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14124 Download citation * Received: 02 September 2014 * Accepted: 28 November 2014 * Published: 09 February 2015 * Issue Date: 05 March 2015 * DOI:

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