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Classical novae are the most common astrophysical thermonuclear explosions,occurring on the surfaces of white dwarf stars accreting gas from companions inbinary star systems. Novae typically expel ~10^(-4) solar masses of material atvelocities exceeding 1,000 kilometres per second. However, the mechanism ofmass ejection in novae is poorly understood, and could be dominated by theimpulsive flash of thermonuclear energy, prolonged optically thick winds, orbinary interaction with the nova envelope. Classical novae are now routinelydetected in gigaelectronvolt gamma-ray wavelengths, suggesting thatrelativistic particles are accelerated by strong shocks in the ejecta. Here wereport high-resolution radio imaging of the gamma-ray-emitting nova V959 Mon.We find that its ejecta were shaped by the motion of the binary system: somegas was expelled rapidly along the poles as a wind from the white dwarf, whiledenser material drifted out along the equatorial plane, propelled by orbitalmotion. At the interface between the equatorial and polar regions, we observesynchrotron emission indicative of shocks and relativistic particleacceleration, thereby pinpointing the location of gamma-ray production. Binaryshaping of the nova ejecta and associated internal shocks are expected to bewidespread among novae, explaining why many novae are gamma-ray emitters.

Binary orbits as the driver of gamma-ray emission and mass ejection in classical novae