Small Magellanic Cloud tagged posts

Accretion-powered Pulsar reveals Unique Timing Glitch

Composite image of the X-ray pulsar SXP 1062 surrounded by the supernova remnant. The false-color image combines X-ray (blue) and optical data (oxygen: green, hydrogen: red). Credit: ESA / XMM-Newton / L. Oskinova, University of Potsdam, Germany / M. Guerrero, Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia, Spain (X-ray); Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory / R. Gruendl & Y. H. Chu, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA (optical)

Composite image of the X-ray pulsar SXP 1062 surrounded by the supernova remnant. The false-color image combines X-ray (blue) and optical data (oxygen: green, hydrogen: red). Credit: ESA / XMM-Newton / L. Oskinova, University of Potsdam, Germany / M. Guerrero, Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia, Spain (X-ray); Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory / R. Gruendl & Y. H. Chu, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA (optical)

The discovery of the largest timing irregularity yet observed in a pulsar is the first confirmation that pulsars in binary systems exhibit the strange phenomenon known as a ‘glitch’. Pulsars are one possible result of the final stages of evolution of massive stars...

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VISTA peeks through the Small Magellanic Cloud’s Dusty Veil

The Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) galaxy is a striking feature of the southern sky even to the unaided eye. But visible-light telescopes cannot get a really clear view of what is in the galaxy because of obscuring clouds of interstellar dust. VISTA's infrared capabilities have now allowed astronomers to see the myriad of stars in this neighbouring galaxy much more clearly than ever before. The result is this record-breaking image -- the biggest infrared image ever taken of the Small Magellanic Cloud -- with the whole frame filled with millions of stars. As well as the SMC itself this very wide-field image reveals many background galaxies and several star clusters, including the very bright 47 Tucanae globular cluster at the right of the picture. Credit: ESO/VISTA VMC

The Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) galaxy is a striking feature of the southern sky even to the unaided eye. But visible-light telescopes cannot get a really clear view of what is in the galaxy because of obscuring clouds of interstellar dust. VISTA’s infrared capabilities have now allowed astronomers to see the myriad of stars in this neighbouring galaxy much more clearly than ever before. The result is this record-breaking image — the biggest infrared image ever taken of the Small Magellanic Cloud — with the whole frame filled with millions of stars. As well as the SMC itself this very wide-field image reveals many background galaxies and several star clusters, including the very bright 47 Tucanae globular cluster at the right of the picture. Credit: ESO/VISTA VMC

The SMC is a dwarf galaxy...

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