Lithium production in a classical nova

Although lithium is believed to have made an early appearance in the Universe — some may have been produced by the Big Bang — other more recent sources are also suspected including novae and supernova explosions. This paper reports the detection of highly blue-shifted resonance lines of beryllium-7, the singly ionized radioactive isotope of beryllium that decays with a half-life of 53 days to form lithium-7, observed in the post-outburst ultraviolet spectra of the classical nova V339 Del (Nova Delphini 2013). This result supports the theoretical prediction that a significant amount of ⁷Li is produced in classical nova explosions.