Astronomers have discovered a new and mysterious star system 3,000 light-years away from Earth, and it appears to be a binary system called the ‘Black Widow’.
These stars consist of a rapidly rotating neutron star, or pulsar, that rotates and slowly consumes a smaller companion star, in the same way that a female spider deals with her partner, eventually devouring him after “marriage”, according to a group of astronomers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). ).
Astronomers know about twenty black widow binaries in the Milky Way, according to Russia Today.
“These systems are called black widows because of how this type of star consumes material from recycled stars, just as a spider eats its companion,” said Kevin Bridge of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, lead author of the study on the new discovery.
This is the latest black widow candidate binary to have the shortest orbital period identified to date, with the pulsar and companion star rotating every 62 minutes.
Experts say the system, called ZTF J1406 + 1222, is unique in that it appears to host an elusive third star that orbits the two inner stars every 10,000 years.
Based on their observations, astronomers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology proposed a theory about the discovery.
They think that, as with most black widow binaries, the triple system may have originated from a dense constellation of ancient stars known as a globular cluster.
This particular cluster may have drifted to the center of the Milky Way, where the central black hole’s gravity was enough to separate the cluster while leaving the triple black widow intact.
“It’s a complicated birth scenario,” said Bridge. This system may have been floating in the Milky Way longer than the Sun has.”
The researchers used a new method to detect this system. While most black widow binaries have been found through gamma rays and X-rays emitted by the central pulsar, the team relied on visible light, specifically flashes from the binary’s companion star, to discover ZTF J1406 + 1222.
It turns out that the day side of the companion star, the side always facing the pulsar, can be several times hotter than the night side, due to the continuous high-energy radiation it receives from the pulsar.
It was believed that if astronomers observed a star that periodically changes its brightness by a huge amount, it would be a strong indication that it was in a binary with a pulsar.
To test this theory, Bridge and colleagues looked at optical data from the Zwicky Transit Facility, a California-based observatory that takes large-scale images of the night sky.
The team was able to select dozens of known black widow pairs, to verify the accuracy of the new method of research.
Then they discovered a star that changes brightness every 62 minutes, indicating that it is likely part of a new black widow binary, which they named ZTF J1406 + 1222.
They searched for the star in observations made by the European Space Agency’s “Gaia” space probe, which keeps accurate measurements of the position and movement of stars in the sky.
Berridge bought: ‘This system is really unique with respect to black widows, because we found it in visible light, because of its broad companion, and the fact that it came from the center of the galaxy. And there’s still a lot we don’t understand about it. But we have a new way to look for these systems in the sky.”
He added: “The only thing we know for sure is that we see a star from the day side that is much hotter than the night side, and it orbits something every 62 minutes.”
Everything seems to point to a black widow couple. But there are some strange things about it, so it could be something completely new.
The team now plans to continue monitoring the new system, as well as apply optical technology to illuminate more neutron stars and black widows in the sky.
The study was published in the journal Nature.
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