Binary Stars HD 5980 in X-Rays
the european space agency's xxm-newton x-ray observatory has observed the collision of the winds from two binary stars in the smc radiating energy at a rate about a million times that of our sun. each star is emitting the equivalent of one earth mass of material in its wind every month; this material is then accelerated away from the star by the radiation it is simultaneously emitting. the result? the collision zone is emitting - in x-rays alone - 10 times the amount of energy emitted by our sun. the optical image is above, and the x-ray image below (click for animation). (image credits: esa)
Labels: binary stars, esa, stellar winds, x-ray telescope
posted by Zosia A. C. Krusberg at
2:23 PM
1 Comments:
Okay, I have a question that really nags at me. There's not supposed to be sound in the vacuum of space since sound is supposed to be vibrations in the air, the bouncing around of molecules, the (wikipedia) "disturbance of mechanical energy that propagates through matter as a longitudinal wave." But then is there sound in a stellar wind? Or in gases floating around? Because in both there is matter, right? Where in the universe can you play the cello?
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