NASA X-Ray Image of Cepheids
A surprising new class of X-ray pulsating variable stars has been discovered by a team of American and Canadian astronomers led by Villanova University’s Scott Engle and Edward Guinan. Part of the Villanova Secret Lives of Cepheids program, the new X-ray observations, obtained by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory reveal that the bright prototype of Classical Cepheids, d Cephei, is a periodic pulsed X-ray source.
The prototype star after which all Cepheids are named, d Cephei (d Cep) is 890 light years away, also one of the closest of its type. Cepheids are a famous class of pulsating variable stars and among the most astronomically important objects in the Universe...
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