Tag Archive for 'Neutron star' | Sci.News

$An artist’s impression of the binary system PSR J1023+0038: the extremely dense, rapidly-spinning neutron star, just 10-15 km in size, is in a close orbit with a more normal companion star. The strong gravity of the neutron star pulls gas from its companion, which spirals in towards the neutron star, forming a disk. Some fraction of that gas gets accelerated outwards in energetic, oppositely-directed jets, which give off the radio waves that can be seen by Earth’s radio telescopes. Image credit: ICRAR.$

Neutron Stars Rival Black Holes in Producing Powerful Jets

Aug 4, 2015 by News Staff

Neutron stars may rival black holes in their ability to accelerate powerful jets of material to nearly the speed of light, says a group of scientists from...

This artist’s impression shows a supernova and associated gamma-ray burst driven by a rapidly spinning magnetar. Image credit: ESO.

Ultra-Long Gamma-Ray Bursts are Driven by Magnetars, Astronomers Say

Jul 9, 2015 by News Staff

A team of astronomers led by Dr Jochen Greiner of the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Germany, has demonstrated a link between the bright...

A set of four rings around Circinus X-1 can be seen in this composite image where X-rays from Chandra are red, green, and blue corresponding to low, medium, and high-energy X-rays respectively, which have been combined with a view in visible light from the Digitized Sky Survey. The sharp edges are caused by the large size of the X-ray rings compared to the relatively small field-of-view of the Chandra detectors, providing only partial coverage. Image credit: NASA / CXC / University of Wisconsin-Madison / S. Heinz et al / DSS.

Circinus X-1: Astronomers Discover X-ray Rings around Neutron Star

Jun 24, 2015 by News Staff

Astronomers using data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and ESA’s XMM-Newton telescope have discovered a bright X-ray light echo in the form of...

An image from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory of PSR B1509-58. Image credit: NASA / CXC / SAO / JPL-Caltech.

Astronomers Discover Strange New Pulsar

May 4, 2015 by News Staff

Astronomers using the 100-meter Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope have discovered an exotic pulsar that has the widest orbit of any around a neutron...

This image shows the ancient globular cluster Terzan 5, home to PSR J1906+0746. Image credit: ESA / NASA/ Hubble.

Researchers Measure Space-Time Warp in Gravity of Binary Star

Jan 9, 2015 by News Staff

A team of astrophysicists headed by Dr Joeri van Leeuwen of the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy and the University of Amsterdam has successfully...

This image shows the position of the PSR J2222 system. Image credit: David L. Kaplan et al.

Astronomers Discover White Dwarf Star Made of Diamond

Jun 24, 2014 by Enrico de Lazaro

A newly discovered white dwarf, which is a companion to the nearby pulsar PSR J2222-0137, is so cool that its carbon has crystallized, forming a giant...

This image shows the giant, variable star HV 2112. Image credit: Digital Sky Survey / Centre de Données astronomiques de Strasbourg.

First Thorne-Zytkow Object Found 200,000 Light-Years Away

Jun 5, 2014 by News Staff

HV 2112 – a giant, variable star in a nearby galaxy known as the Small Magellanic Cloud – represents a long-sought class of stars called Thorne-Zytkow...

This image shows a pulsar wind nebula known as the 'Hand of God.' Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / McGill.

‘Hand of God’: NuSTAR Sees Mysterious Stellar Object in X-Rays

Jan 16, 2014 by News Staff

Astronomers using NASA’s Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) have captured a stunning image of a stellar structure known as the ‘Hand...

High-resolution simulation of a galaxy hosting a super-luminous supernova. Image credit: Adrian Malec / Marie Martig / Swinburne University.

Study Provides New Insight into Origins of Super-Luminous Supernovae

Oct 16, 2013 by News Staff

According to a team of astronomers reporting in the journal Nature, super-luminous supernovae are powered by small and incredibly dense neutron stars,...

This artist's conception portrays two neutron stars at the moment of collision. Such collisions produce rare heavy elements, including gold (Dana Berry / SkyWorks Digital, Inc.)

Gold on Earth Came from Colliding Stars, Astrophysicists Say

Jul 18, 2013 by News Staff

According to new research by Dr Edo Berger and his colleagues at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, all Earth’s gold likely came from...