The pulsar generates intense radiation and particle winds that blow away the material of the other star over millions to billions of years. A black widow binary, for example, contains a low-mass star, called a brown dwarf, and a rapidly spinning, superdense stellar corpse called a pulsar. Sometimes, though, a stellar couple ends its relationship in a way that’s really disastrous for one of them. Proxima Centauri is a remote red dwarf star caught in their gravitational pull even though it sits way far away from them (like over 300 times the distance between the Sun and Neptune).Ĭredit: ESO/Digitized Sky Survey 2/Davide De Martin/Mahdi Zamani Two Sun-like stars, Rigil Kentaurus and Toliman, form a pair (called Alpha Centauri AB) that orbit each other about every 80 years. It’s a binary, or two-star, system in the constellation Draco.Īlpha Centauri, our nearest stellar neighbor, is actually a stellar triangle. Take our old north star Thuban, for example. Scientists estimate three or four out of every five Sun-like stars in the Milky Way have at least one partner. When you look at a star in the night sky, you may really be viewing two or more stars dancing around each other. Sometimes you start a downward spiral you just can’t get out of, eventually crash together and set off an explosion that can be seen 130 million light-years away.įor Valentine’s Day, we’re exploring the bonds between some of the universe’s peculiar pairs … as well as a few of their cataclysmic endings. ![]() Relationships can be complicated - especially if you’re a pair of stars. Find out more about the mission at Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: NASA space science SOFIA universe stars black holes galaxy Milky Way SOFIA is a modified Boeing 747SP aircraft that allows astronomers to study the solar system and beyond in ways that are not possible with ground-based telescopes. The growth of these molecules is one of the steps that could lead to the emergence of life under the right circumstances. Radiation from stars is making organic molecules in nebula NGC 7023, also known as the Iris Nebula, larger and more complex. A newborn star in the Orion Nebula is clearing a bubble of space around it, preventing any new luminous family members from forming nearby. They say siblings need time and space to grow, but here’s one that really needs some room. What happens when a star goes boom? It turns out that supernova explosions can produce a substantial amount of material from which planets like Earth can form. The Great EscapeĮver wonder how material leaves a galaxy? The wind flowing from the center of the Cigar Galaxy is so strong it’s pulling a magnetic field - and the mass of 50 to 60 million Suns - with it. Observations show magnetic fields may be directing material around, not into, the belly of the beast. A Quiet Placeīlack holes in many galaxies are actively consuming material, but our Milky Way galaxy’s central black hole is relatively quiet. What’s more, its central star is a younger, fainter version of our Sun. The planetary system around Epsilon Eridani, a star located about 10 light-years away, has an architecture remarkably similar to our solar system. And let the feast begin! Magnetic fields in the Cygnus A galaxy are trapping material where it is close enough to be devoured by a hungry black hole. ![]() How A Black Hole Feastsįear not, the dark, my friend. A similar event in our own solar system may have formed our Moon. When Planets CollideĪ double-star system that is more than 300 light-years away likely had an extreme collision between two of its rocky planets. More than a pretty picture, this panorama of cosmic scale reveals details that can help explain how massive stars are born and what’s feeding our Milky Way galaxy’s supermassive black hole. Its recent discovery confirms a key part of our basic understanding of the early universe. Scientists believe that around 100,000 years after the big bang, helium and hydrogen combined to make a molecule called helium hydride. To celebrate its 10 years of exploration, here’s a look at the top 10 discoveries made by our telescope on a plane: Over the last decade, the aircraft’s 106-inch telescope has been used to study black holes, planets, galaxies, star-forming nebulas and more! The observations have led to major breakthroughs in astronomy, revolutionizing our understanding of the solar system and beyond. Often, they are invisible when observed in ordinary, visible light. Many objects in space emit almost all their energy at infrared wavelengths. Its mission: to study celestial objects and astronomical phenomena with infrared light. On the night of May 26, 2010, the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, or SOFIA, the world’s largest flying observatory, first peered into the cosmos.
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