binary system tagged posts

Image around SN 2012dn obtained by the Kanata Telescope at Higashi-Hiroshima Observatory. SN 2012dn is seen near the center of this figure. The host galaxy ESO 462-G016 is seen on the left side of SN 2012dn. The distance to this galaxy is known to be 130 mega-light-years. Because the supernova is a point source, the expansion cannot be measured, but the evolutions of the brightness and color are obtained. Credit: Higashi-Hiroshima Observatory

Using Optical and Infrared Synergetic Telescopes for Education and Research (OISTER), researchers discovered an anomalously strong infrared emission from ‘the extraordinary supernova’ SN 2012dn, which has never been observed in other Type Ia supernovae to date...

This is an artists conception of binary star system TYC-2505-672-1. Credit: Jeremy Teaford, Vanderbilt University

Astronomers have discovered an unnamed pair of stars that sets a new record for both the longest duration stellar eclipse (3.5 years) and longest period between eclipses (69 years) in a binary system. Imagine living on a world where, every 69 yrs, the sun disappears in a near-total eclipse that lasts for over 3yrs. Nearly 10,000 light years from Earth the newly discovered system, catalog no. TYC 2505-672-1 was made by a team of astronomers from Vanderbilt and Harvard with the assistance of colleagues at Lehigh, Ohio State and Pennsylvania State universities, Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network and the American Association of Variable Star Observers..

The previous r...

An illustration shows the HD 142527 binary star system from data captured by the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array. The red body orbiting the center represents the low-mass companion star. Click image for a larger version. Illustration by B. Saxton/NRAO/AUI/NSF

Rice Uni Assistant Professor Andrea Isella presented images of binary system HD 142527 by Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) radio telescope at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington, D.C. The system has long been known to harbor a planet-forming corona of dust and gas, but ALMA images are providing more detail than ever and allowing for better analysis of the system’s contents and mechanics.

Isella studies the formation of planetary systems...

The galaxy NGC 300, home to the unusual system Binder and her colleagues studied. The spiral galaxy is over 6 million light years away.NASA/JPL-Caltech/OCIW

A star pretending to be a supernova mystery illustrates the importance of being in the right place at the right time. Such was the case in May 2010 when an amateur South African astronomer pointed his telescope toward NGC300, a nearby galaxy. He discovered what appeared to be a supernova—a massive star ending its life in a blaze of glory. After a star explodes as a supernova, it usually leaves behind either a black hole or a neutron star—the collapsed, high-density core of the former star. Neither should be visible to Earth after a few weeks. But this supernova—SN 2010da—still was.
“SN 2010da is what we call a ‘supernova impost...