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First Gamma-Ray Eclipses
February 8 , 2023
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- Scientists have discovered the first gamma-ray eclipses from a special type of binary star system using data from NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope.
- These so-called spider systems each contain a pulsar and rapidly rotating remains of a star that exploded in a supernova – that slowly erodes its companion.
- Spider systems develop because one star in a binary evolves more swiftly than its partner.
- A binary system is one in which two stars orbit around a common centre of mass, that is they are gravitationally bound to each other.
- Pulsars are rapidly spinning neutron stars.
- They are extremely dense stars composed almost entirely of neutrons and having a diameter of only 20 km (12 miles) or less.
- They emit concentrated streams of radiation far across the space.
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