Scientists discover one of the hottest nova explosions

The first-ever near-infrared analysis of an extragalactic recurrent nova was conducted by the researchers and they found it is one of the hottest nova explosions ever discovered.

The recurrent nova LMCN 1968-12a, reveal that it's the hottest burst of its kind ever recorded, reported Live Science.

LMCN 1968-12a, which is located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a nearby satellite galaxy of the Milky Way, is the first recurrent nova outside our galaxy to have been studied in near-infrared light.

This nova, beyond its extreme temperatures, is also notable for being an extremely violent eruption with unique chemical properties that differ significantly from those observed in our galaxy, the researchers explained in a paper published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

When a white dwarf, which is the leftover core of a collapsed star, is in a tight orbit around another star, it can pull material from that star, it leads to some pretty dramatic astronomical events. 

One of these is called a nova, which means "new" in Latin.

Additionally, this event results in a bright flash in the sky, as if a new star had appeared, and lasts a few weeks or months before fading. 

The original stars remain when the dust clears (unlike in a supernova, which happens when a star is completely destroyed).