Astronomers have observed an X-ray binary star system using a South African telescope that scientists believe could help unlock several of the Universe’s mysteries.
“These types of observations are crucial for understanding the processes of both accretion of matter onto extremely dense systems, such as neutron stars and black holes of both about the sun’s mass, and also the so-called supermassive variety we now know to be at the center of most galaxies,” explained Richard Armstrong of the University of Cape Town and lead author of the paper regarding their findings.
Known as Circinus X-1, the two stars orbit each other every 16.5 days in an elliptical orbit during which the gravity of the dense neutron star pulls material from the other, resulting in a powerful jet of material that then blasts out of from the system.
“One way of explaining what is happening is that the compact neutron star gobbles up parts of its companion start and then fires much of this matter back out again,” Armstrong said. “The dramatic radio flares happen when the matter Circinus X-1 has violently ejected slows down as it smashes into the surrounding medium.”
According to Rob Fender of the University of Southampton, the binary system is “arguably the best laboratory for relativistic jet astrophysics in the southern hemisphere” as well as “an excellent control to the large population of jets associated with accreting black holes.”
Moreover, the observations are the first scientific results to come out of the Karoo Array Telescope (KAT-7), the pathfinder radio telescope for the $3 billion global Square Kilometer Array project.
Using KAT-7, astronomers were able to watch in greater detail than ever before as the system flared twice at levels among the highest recorded in recent years.
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