The discovery was published in The Astrophysical Journal, where they detailed that the research was possible due to the use of the NICER telescope (Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer) POT.
This neutron star, complete 716 rotations per second while material from its companion stars is released in the form of thermonuclear emissions product of its gravitational collapse.
Using the NICER telescope, the team of astronomers managed to arrive and discover this strange event in space, about 26,000 light years of the Earth and which is part of a system of binary stars X-ray, known as 4U 1820-30.
What the investigation revealed
This surprising star is part of the so-called binary starswhich consist of a star normal and a star collapsed (a neutron star, a black hole, among other alternatives) that orbit around each other in perfect gravitational time.
The particularity of this discovery is that there is one of those neutron stars that turns on itself at a high speed, and which is accompanied by a white dwarf star which is similar in size to Earth (which orbits the neutron star every 11 minutes, being the orbital period shortest known in a binary system).
Product of the intense force of gravity between both stars, the neutron star brings material from its companion and produces an eruption similar to that of a atomic bomb.
Why does it spin so many times on itself?
One of the data that most alerted astronomers was that when orbiting around itself, the neutron star rotates 716 times per second and shines around 100,000 times more than the Sun when it produces its explosions, thus releasing an immense amount of energy.
The discovery continues challenging and raising doubts to astronomers about the new behaviors of binary stars, the combination and functioning of the elements of the universe, and their impact on research.
Source: Ambito
