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NASA's NuSTAR Captures Possible 'Screams' from Zombie Stars
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nustar150429
This picture from NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, NuSTAR, shows the very center of our Milky Way galaxy. The intense light near the center of the X-ray picture is coming from a spinning dead star, called a pulsar, which is near our galaxy's central supermassive black hole. While the pulsar's X-ray emissions were known before, scientists were surprised to find more high-energy X-rays than predicted in the surrounding regions, seen here as the elliptical haze.
Astronomers aren't sure what the sources of the extra X-rays are, but one possibility is a population of dead stars.
The NuSTAR image has an X-ray energy range of 20 to 40 kiloelectron volts.
About the Object
Color Mapping
Band | Wavelength | Telescope |
---|---|---|
X-ray | 30.0 keV | NuSTAR |
Astrometrics