The Magellanic Clouds are two satellite galaxies that orb the Milky Way . Between them , there ’s abridge of materialsand stars , and among those , back in 1993 , a pulsar was detect flaring up . For the next 26 years , the pulsar evidently went back to quietus but last November it create another unbelievable flare pass , one that shone with a light of over 1 million Suns .
The degraded star is know as RX J0209.6 - 7427 . The extreme flare pass it unloosen a few month ago give away its true nature as an extremist - luminous X - electron beam pulsar ( ULXP ) . Less than 10 of these object are know in the universe . This is also the second close-fitting ever discovered after onefound a few years agoin our own whitish Way . The findings are reported in theMonthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society .
A pulsar is a special type of neutron star , one of the potential remnants of supernova . Neutron asterisk are passing dense , packing more than the mass of the Sun in a heavens with a radius of just 10 kilometers ( 6 mile ) . They are made by degenerate State of matter with unbelievable properties .
Some of these neutron stars can pulse , hence the name pulsar , and among pulsars , there are those that rotate on their axis vertebra every few milliseconds . RX J0209.6 - 7427 is one of these , gyrate 100 times per second . The pulsar is also palisade by material that can spiral inward and hit the surface . When that happens a brawny flare is eject .
The flare is a violation of theEddington limit , the maximal light a body ( like a star ) can achieve when there is a balance between gravitation pulling in material and the effulgent energy pushing it out . When this is surpassed incredible luminosities can be achieved . In fact , ULXP and the spacious class of ultra - luminous decade - ray sources can single - handedly outshine a Galax urceolata with their flare .
“ This is only the 8th ULXP detected so far , and the first one near the Magellanic Clouds , ” result source Amar Deo Chandra , from the Center of Excellence in Space Sciences India , said in astatement . “ It raises the interesting theory that a significant fraction of ultra - lambent ecstasy - ray source may really be neutron stars accreting at super Eddington pace , rather than black holes as previously thought . ”
The observation were conduct withAstroSat , India ’s first ultraviolet light / X - ray observatory set in motion in 2015 .
