Using the new KAT-7 telescope in the Karoo and the existing 26 m radio telescope at the Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory (HartRAO), South African and international astronomers have observed a neutron star system known as Circinus X-1 as it fires energetic matter from its core in extensive, compact jets that flare brightly. The details [continue reading]
A new kind of cosmic flash may reveal something never seen before: the birth of a black hole. When a massive star exhausts its fuel, it collapses under its own gravity and produces a black hole, an object so dense that not even light can escape its gravitational grip. According to a new [continue reading]
April 29, 2013 G350.1-0.3, a supernova remnant in Scorpius Image Credit: NASA/CXC/SAO/I. Lovchinsky et al. G350.1-0.3 is a very bright supernova remnant of just about 8 light-years across, located some 14,700 light-years away from Earth toward the center of the Milky Way in the constellation of Scorpius. It is associated with the neutron star XMMU [continue reading]
Astronomers have used ESO’s Very Large Telescope, along with radio telescopes around the world, to find and study a bizarre stellar pair consisting of the most massive neutron star confirmed so far, orbited by a white dwarf star. This strange new binary system allows tests of Einstein’s theory of gravity — general relativity — [continue reading]
Astronomers have used INTEGRAL and XMM-Newton to look into the neutron star in IGR J17252-3616, a highly obscured X-ray binary system. The data show how the neutron star, which is being fuelled by the stellar wind from its companion, is substantially deflecting the flow of the accreted material. Comparison with numerical simulations provides an [continue reading]
Sparse halos of neutrinos within the hearts of exploding stars exert a previously unrecognized influence on the physics of the explosion and may alter which elements can be forged by these violent events. The titanic supernova, called SN 1987A, blazed with the power of 100 million suns for several months following its discovery on [continue reading]