New Star

[Arwen]

An infant neutron star, the super-dense core of a stellar explosion, has been observed for the first time. Skip related content
Related photos / videos Neutron star dazzles astronomers The 12.4 mile-wide object has been cloaked in mystery since it was identified as a powerful X-ray source in 1999.

Astronomers now know the source is a neutron star 11,000 light years from Earth at the centre of the supernova Cassiopeia A.

It is the youngest object of its kind ever discovered, having appeared just 330 years ago.

Neutron stars are the super-dense compact cores of massive stars whose outer shells have been blasted away in violent explosions at the end of their lives.

Compressed tightly by gravity, they are composed almost entirely of neutrons, sub-atomic particles with no electric charge that form part of atoms.

One teaspoonful of material from a neutron star would weigh a billion tonnes.

The newly identified neutron star has a unique atmosphere of carbon just centimetres thick. Britain's first Astronomer Royal, John Flamsteed, is believed to have observed the supernova that spawned it in 1680.

Astronomers studied the supernova using the Chandra X-ray space telescope launched by the American space agency Nasa in 1999. Every other neutron star identified by scientists has been much older. It is hoped the object will reveal more clues about the role exploding stars play in building the universe.

Professor Craig Heinke, from the University of Alberta in Canada, who co-led the new research published in the journal Nature, said: "The discovery helps us understand how neutron stars are born in violent supernova explosions. This neutron star was born so hot that nuclear fusion happened on its surface, producing a carbon atmosphere just 10 centimetres thick."

[Arwen]

Is'nt it beautiful.

[Emgee]

Originally Posted by Arwen

Is'nt it beautiful.

Wow! that is beautiful. There are so many amazing things out there in the universe, and with modern technology we can get to see some of these things up close and share them with others, which is really cool.

[Arwen]

Hi Emgee, glad you liked the picture. I love looking at the night sky. It's amazing.

[WitchQueen]

The star is very beautiful. I did not see it on the Internet so I am glad you posted it. I am sure there are other life out there. It does not make sense that just we should be here. It is mind boggleing.
WitchQueen

[Arwen]

Young fertile galaxies give birth to stars such as the sun at a "runaway" rate of up to 50 a year, astronomers have learned. Skip related content
Related photos / videos


New stars produced at 'rapid' rate



The discovery shows that "stellar nurseries" within early galaxies similar to our own were producing stars far more rapidly than was previously thought.
Astronomers looked back 12.5 billion years to study one of the most distant galaxies known, MS1358arc. Light from the galaxy began its journey across the universe just one billion years after the Big Bang that created the cosmos.
"Gravitational lensing" was used to magnify the galaxy by making use of the way its light bent round a nearby galaxy cluster. Using this technique the scientists were able to observe rapid bursts of star formation.
New stars were being created in the galaxy's star-forming regions at a rate 100 times faster than had earlier been predicted. Measuring 6,000 light years across, the collection of stars was expected to evolve into a spiral galaxy similar to our own, the Milky Way.
The findings, published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, were based on observations from the Gemini North telescope in Hawaii and Nasa's Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes.
Lead astronomer Dr Mark Swinbank, from the University of Durham, said: "The runaway effect in this galaxy suggests it is growing much faster than expected.
"In effect we are seeing the first generation of stars being born in a galaxy like the Milky Way. This gives unique insight into the birth of our own galaxy."
Most of the observed stars would have eventually exploded as supernovae at the end of their lives, said the scientists. However, light from the explosions will not reach our part of the universe for billions more years.
Professor Andy Fabian, president of the Royal Astronomical Society, which funded the study, said: "This pioneering work shows what our own galaxy might have looked like when it was a tenth of its present age."

[Arwen]

Originally Posted by WitchQueen

The star is very beautiful. I did not see it on the Internet so I am glad you posted it. I am sure there are other life out there. It does not make sense that just we should be here. It is mind boggleing.
WitchQueen

I would like to think that there was other life out in the vastness of the universe. The above is a new galaxy ....so who knows.