Now, an international team of astronomers has trained the Fermi space-based gamma ray telescope on V407 Cygni, a "binary" system comprising a white dwarfstar and a red giant companion, 9, 000 light-years away.
Standard Type Ia supernovae are binary systems in which a white dwarfstar draws so much matter from its companion (often a red giant) that it undergoes a kind of energy overload and detonates.