Scientists using the Hubble Space Telescope have glimpsed a neutron star unlike any seen before .
Neutron stars , which take more mass than the Sun but have a spoke of only a few miles , carry on to be the subject of intense reflection . Now , scientists have espy one of these extremist - dense objects emitting infrared radiation far brighter than they ’d await , over a ostensibly panoptic belt of blank — larger than our Solar System . They have several ideas as to what they ’re looking at , and any of these ideas , if verified , would be important discoveries .
“ The emission is intelligibly above what the neutron star itself emits — it does n’t come from the neutron adept alone , ” the study ’s lead writer Bettina Posselt , associate enquiry prof at Penn State University , distinguish Gizmodo . “ This is very new . ”
The researchers observed a rotating neutron wiz , a pulsar called RX J0806.4 - 4123 , locate 815 sluttish - class away . The pulsar is one of the “ magnificent seven , ” the relatively slowly pulsate objects — this one pulse every 11.37 minute — that emit lustrous Adam - electron beam but not wireless waves , all within 3,300 clean - years of Earth . These pulsar ’ vivid x - ray seem to call for some other energy source — perhaps large magnetized fields or dusty disks add matter that hang into them .
These novel observations of RX J0806.4 - 4123 revealed infrared radiation far brighter than the scientists expected . This implied to the researchers that they were look at not just the neutron superstar , but the wider feature surround it , accord tothe paperpublished in The Astrophysical Journal .
The investigator came up with two idea to explain what they were regard , and either possibility would be a first for astronomy .
They could be learn the first - ever resolved record of thing besiege a neutron star . Or , it could be the first - ever reflexion of a pulsar wind nebula emitting only about - infrared radiation therapy . Pulsar wind instrument nebulae are supernova remnants powered by the pulsar , like the famousCrab Nebula . The main differences between these two possibilities are the way they take shape and their shape .
“ Both of them are very exciting , ” said Posselt .
Back in 2006 , another team observed a potential disk fence in a more removed pulsar using the Spitzer Space Telescope . However , that information did n’t have the same classical wide flesh that this pulsar reflection come along to have .
Could this reflexion have any other explanations ? Well , perhaps the infrared radiation came from behind the pulsar , but the squad ’s analysis revealed that such a co-occurrence would be very , very unlikely . They also leave off the possibility that they were seeing the fundamental interaction between light and the dust between the stars .
The scientist who referee the paper found the results intriguing . “ It is really unexpected to discover fabric surrounding the neutron star that can cause the infrared discharge , ” Martin van Kerkwijk from the University of Toronto distinguish Gizmodo . He too wondered whether the infrared germ derive from something in the ground . But we ’ll before long know for certain , he order : If the discharge is associated with the neutron genius , then it will have the same motion as the neutron star across the sky .
The team ’s next steps are to observe the pulsar in other easy wavelength . They ’ve already render to look at it with the Earth - based Gemini optical and infrared telescope , but the rootage was too faint for scientist to determine the configuration of the disk .
If you follow uranology , then you likely know what happens next : The investigator will need to await for the approaching , much - detain James Webb Space Telescope to take flight . The JWST ’s unbelievable preciseness should be able to image the condition of whatever the scientists are observing , and reason whether it ’s a disc or a nebula .
Said Posselt : “ We need this much high precision . ”
[ ApJ ]
This post has been update with a commentary from Martin van Kerkwijk .
AstronomyAstrophysicsNASANeutron starspulsarsScience
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