Integral reveals exotic and dusty binary systems
| Integral, artist’s impression (Picture: ESA). |
05.06.2008
ESA’s orbiting gamma-ray observatory, Integral has revealed a new population of exotic and dusty binary stars which might represent a brief evolutionary period in a binary star’s life. The findings bring to light a gap in our knowledge of the formation and evolution of such binary star systems.
Since 2002, when Integral was launched, the observatory has been surveying the galaxy, looking for sources of the most powerful X-rays and gamma rays. Fifteen of its new discoveries appeared to be so-called supergiant high-mass X-ray binaries (HMXB). These binary systems consist of a neutron star orbiting around a supergiant star. Before Integral, only seven supergiant HMXBs were known.
The supergiant star is at least 20 times larger than the Sun, contains 30 solar masses, with luminosity one million times greater and a temperature of
Read more from ESA´s webpage. |
