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NASA discovers never-before-seen features around a neutron star

Scientists at US space agency NASA have discovered "an unusual infrared light emission from a nea...
Newstalk
Newstalk

17.42 20 Sep 2018


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NASA discovers never-before-se...

NASA discovers never-before-seen features around a neutron star

Newstalk
Newstalk

17.42 20 Sep 2018


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Scientists at US space agency NASA have discovered "an unusual infrared light emission from a nearby neutron star" which "could indicate new features never before seen".

It says one possibility is that there is a 'dusty disk' surrounding the neutron star - another is that there is an energetic wind coming off the object and slamming into gas in the interstellar space the star is plowing through.

While neutron stars are generally studied in radio and high-energy emissions - such as x-rays - NASA says this study demonstrates that "new and interesting information" can also be gained by studying them in infrared light.

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The observation, by a team of researchers at US and Turkish universities, could help astronomers better understand the evolution of neutron stars.

They are incredibly dense remnants after a massive star explodes as a supernova.

Neutrons are also called pulsars, because their very fast rotation causes time-variable emission from light-emitting regions.

The discovery was made by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, seen in 2009 | Image: NASA

Bettina Posselt is associate research professor of astronomy and astrophysics at Pennsylvania State University.

"This particular neutron star belongs to a group of seven nearby x-ray pulsars - nicknamed 'the Magnificent Seven' - that are hotter than they ought to be considering their ages and available energy reservoir provided by the loss of rotation energy.

"We observed an extended area of infrared emissions around this neutron star - named RX J0806.4-4123 - the total size of which translates into about 200 astronomical units (approximately 18 billion miles) at the assumed distance of the pulsar."

This is the first neutron star in which an extended signal has been seen only in infrared light.

Astronomers are to further explore this new discovery using NASA's upcoming James Webb Space Telescope.


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