Astro Snapshot presents recent news and spectacular imagery from space missions, observatories, and research projects around the world. Each week, one outstanding discovery or event is explained by an AMNH astrophysicist.
What Lies Inside This Supernova?
Astronomers detected X-rays with a 7-hour cycle streaming from the center of this supernova remnant. The typical remains of supernovas—neutron stars—do not emit X-rays with such slow cycles.
Scientists now think this supernova produced an unusual type of space object. The clues suggest a new kind of binary star, which can emit slower X-ray cycles.
Researchers
Andrea De Luca, Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica, Milan, Italy (lead)
Paper
"A long-period, violently-variable X-ray source in a young SNR,” Science Express, July 6, 2006
Image Credits
Supernova remnant RCW 103 (ESA/XMM-Newton/A.De Luca (INAF-IASF)
Related Science Bulletins
Supernova Series: A New Breed of Burst (March 6, 2006)
Ancient Supernova Reveals New Clues (December 20, 2004)
Related Links:
- Spitzer Space Telescope: Andromeda Makes a Splashhttp://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/Media/releases/ssc2006-14/ssc2006-14a.shtml