Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Morphing Jekyll And Hyde Star Discovered

Astronomers have uncovered the strange case of a neutron star with the peculiar ability to transform from a radio pulsar into an X-ray pulsar and back again. This star's capricious behavior appears to be fueled by a nearby companion star and may give new insights into the birth of millisecond pulsars. Neutron star and its companion during a period of accretion when the neutron star emits powerful X-rays. Credit: Bill Saxton; NRAO/AUI/NSF "This transitional object took us decades to find, and it provides us with a unique opportunity to observe a pulsar's intense magnetic field in action," said Sergio Campana, an astronomer at Brera Observatory in Merate, Italy, and a co-author of a paper on the object that appears in the Sept.



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