Posted on 09/04/2019 6:28:44 PM PDT by BenLurkin
A recent study, published in the Astrophysical Journal, offers potential explanations for the appearance of a green blob near the galaxy's center, which appeared and disappeared within weeks.
The main goal of the NuSTAR observations was to examine a supernova -- a huge star explosion. The green blob, known as an ultraluminous X-ray source (ULX...didn't appear during the first observation, but showed up during a second one 10 days later. Another space telescope, NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, then looked again and found the object, ULX-4, had quickly disappeared.
"Ten days is a really short amount of time for such a bright object to appear," Hannah Earnshaw, a postdoctoral researcher at Caltech and lead author on the study, said in a statement. "Usually with NuSTAR, we observe more gradual changes over time, and we don't often observe a source multiple times in quick succession. In this instance, we were fortunate to catch a source changing extremely quickly, which is very exciting."
Most ULXs last for a long time because they're formed by dense objects like black holes that "feed" on a star for a long time. Short-lived X-ray sources like this ULX aren't as common, so its appearance could be explained by a scenario such as a black hole quickly destroying a small star.
Neutron stars can create strong magnetic fields that form "columns" and take material to the surface. In the process, they generate strong X-rays. However, if the star is spinning super-fast, material can't reach the surface and create these X-ray bursts. It's kind of like an invisibility cloak -- astronomers can't see the neutron star's X-ray signature. But if material does somehow sneak through, the invisibility cloak fails. That could explain why ULX-4 quickly appeared and then disappeared.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnet.com ...
I prefer blue x-rays.
Foolish Earthlings!
Pay no attention to this!
Go back to your worthless pursuits!
That is all.
Nothing to see here. It was just the PIAPS trying out her new broom before she once again sweeps in and takes the DNC nomination.
Bring it on you filthy Grndelians!
I’m right here waiting for you!
And you know what I’ve got for you?
The thing you fear most in this galaxy!
Spaghetti-Os!
The neat round spaghetti you can eat with a spoon!
Uh oh, Grndelians, Spaghetti-Os!
Come and get em!
I’ve asked you and asked you, very politely, to please not post photos of my Father-In-Law at my wedding.
A spaceship turned off its running lights. We just happened to get a picture of the starboard running light as it was turned off.
All of this happened light years ago.
Of course, such a light is what we might observe when a massive alien fleet of spaceships conducts an attack launch from their final line of coordination towards their target sites receiving the green light.
They don’t mind their targets observing their launch, as it only induces massive horror in the minds of their adversaries anticipating the wrath they about to incur from the alien “Donut of Destruction”.
Doom, Doom, Doom!
(or it could be the little child alien, Timothy, playing with his flashlight X-Ray gun again.)
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