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Scientists baffled by neutron star giving off strange light and cannot explain it

Photo credit: NASA, ESA, and N. Tr’Ehnl (Pennsylvania State University)
Photo credit: NASA, ESA, and N. Tr’Ehnl (Pennsylvania State University)

From Country Living

NASA has discovered a bizarre infrared light emission from a neutron star and is unclear about what is causing it.

Scientists say the never-before-seen finding, which was detected by the Hubble Space Telescope, could be a dusty disk surrounding the neutron star, or an energetic wind coming off the object and slamming into gas in interstellar space the neutron star is ploughing through.

Researchers say that the observation could help astronomers better understand the evolution of neutron stars, dense remnants of supernova explosions which are also known as pulsars.

“We observed an extended area of infrared emissions around this neutron star - named RX J0806.4-4123 – the total size of which translates into about 200 astronomical units (approximately 18 billion miles) at the assumed distance of the pulsar,” said Bettina Posselt, associate research professor of astronomy and astrophysics at Pennsylvania State.

“One theory is that there could be what is known as a ‘fallback disk’ of material that coalesced around the neutron star after the supernova,” said Posselt.

“Such a disk would be composed of matter from the progenitor massive star. Its subsequent interaction with the neutron star could have heated the pulsar and slowed its rotation. If confirmed as a supernova fallback disk, this result could change our general understanding of neutron star evolution.”

The energetic wind explanation is more complex. As Posselt says: “A pulsar wind nebula would require that the neutron star exhibits a pulsar wind. A pulsar wind can be produced when particles are accelerated in the electric field that is produced by the fast rotation of a neutron star with a strong magnetic field.

"As the neutron star travels through the interstellar medium at greater than the speed of sound, a shock can form where the interstellar medium and the pulsar wind interact. The shocked particles would then radiate synchrotron emission, causing the extended infrared emission that we see. Typically, pulsar wind nebulae are seen in X-rays and an infrared-only pulsar wind nebula would be very unusual and exciting."

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