Scientists Encountered An Inexplicable Flash From Two Stars Colliding
D. Player/STScI/NASA/ESAAn artist’s rendering of a “kilonova” gamma-ray burst that may have triggered the formation of a very powerful neutron star.
Scientists in 2020 unexpectedly discovered an ultra-bright afterglow following the collision of two massive stars — which had formed a strange magnetic star.
In May, scientists were abuzz following the identification of a gamma-ray beacon on telescope data, which typically signifies the result of a collision between two neutron stars. These stars are essentially huge stellar objects with a mass about 1.4 times larger than the Sun.
Clashes between these massive space objects usually cause some fantastic “fireworks” that eventually morph into something more mysterious, though scientists aren’t sure exactly what. Some suspect these collisions later results in a black hole, but nobody knows for sure.
As researchers prepared to witness the after-effects of the clash of these two neutron stars, something seemed off. They instead detected a flash that contained 10 times more infrared light than what would be normal during such a phenomenon.
The extreme afterglow is known as a kilonova flash, which burns up to 1,000 times brighter than a traditional star.
NASA/DOE/Fermi LAT CollaborationNASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope spots gamma-rays in the sky.
“These observations do not fit traditional explanations for short gamma-ray bursts,” said Wen-fai Fong, an astronomer at Northwestern University and the new study’s lead author. “Given what we know about the radio and X-rays from this blast, it just doesn’t match up.”
Researchers noted that they had likely witnessed the formation of a magnetar, a super magnetic version of a neutron star. We know very little about magnetars, including how their high-levels of magnetism form in the first place, but this clash could help fix that.
“We think most [magnetars] are formed in the explosive deaths of massive stars, leaving these highly magnetized neutron stars behind,” Fong said. “However, it is possible that a small fraction form in neutron star mergers. We have never seen evidence of that before, let alone in infrared light, making this discovery special.”
This incredible space news is set to be published in an upcoming edition of Astrophysical Journal.
