SMC tagged posts

Einstein Probe catches X-ray odd couple

Lobster-eye satellite Einstein Probe captured the X-ray flash from a very elusive celestial pair. The discovery opens a new way to explore how massive stars interact and evolve, confirming the unique power of the mission to uncover fleeting X-ray sources in the sky.

The odd celestial couple consists of a big, hot star, more than 10 times larger than our Sun, and a small compact white dwarf, with a mass similar to our star. Only a handful of these systems have been found so far. And this the first time scientists could track the X-ray light coming from such a curious pair from its initial sudden flare-up to its fading away.

On 27 May 2024, the Wide-field X-ray Telescope (WXT) on Einstein Probe spotted X-rays coming from within our neighbour galaxy, the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC...

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New study shows Small Magellanic Cloud is actually Two Smaller Galaxies

Top: Intensity-weighted mean velocity map of the SMC from Pingel et al (2022). The single contour indicates an Hi column density of 15×1020⁢cm−2. The center of the SMC used in this work (defined based on the stellar populations observed by Gaia Zivick et al, 2021) is marked with a magenta cross. Spatial bins are overlaid and identified with numbers. Bottom: The average Hi brightness temperature spectra (Tb⁢(vr)) profiles from spatial bins marked at left (black). Each panel includes shaded gray envelopes denoting the 16th through 84th percentile of the Tb⁢(vr) within each spatial bin. We observe that the radial velocity structure of Hi emission features multiple, distinct velocity peaks (and typically two, dominant components). Credit: arXiv (2023). DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2312...
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Scientists discover one of the most Luminous ‘New Stars’ ever

Left: the nova system before eruption. Right: the nova system in outburst. Credit: OGLE survey

Left: the nova system before eruption. Right: the nova system in outburst.
Credit: OGLE survey

University of Leicester contributes to best-ever results on a ‘new star’ in a nearby galaxy. Astronomers have today announced that they have discovered possibly the most luminous ‘new star’ ever – a nova discovered in the direction of one of our closest neighboring galaxies: The Small Magellanic Cloud.

Astronomers used Swift satellite observatory to help understand what was likely the most luminous white dwarf eruption ever seen. A nova happens when an old star erupts dramatically back to life...

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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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