An international team of scientists has discovered the first gamma-ray eclipses of the black widow star system using
A team of scientists reviewed Fermi dataover the past decade, when it discovered seven similar systems in which gamma-ray eclipses occurred. They occur when a low-mass companion star passes in front of the pulsar as seen from Earth, the space agency said.
An artist's idea of a star eclipsing a pulsar.
Photo: NASA/Sonoma State University, Aurora Simonnet
New data allowed scientists to calculate the slopesystem relative to an observer on Earth and obtain other important information that will change our understanding of pulsars. “One of the most important goals of studying black widow stars is to measure the masses of pulsars,” explained Colin Clark, an astrophysicist at the Institute for Gravitational Physics. Max Planck Institute in Hannover, Germany, and lead the study.
NASA is highlighting the fact that its Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has changed scientists' understanding of pulsars since its launch into orbit on June 11, 2008.
NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. Photo: NASA
“Before Fermi, we only knew about a few pulsars,emitting gamma rays. After more than a decade of observations, the mission has identified more than 300 dead stars and has collected a long, nearly continuous dataset that is enabling the community to do groundbreaking science,” explains Elizabeth Hayes, Fermi Project Scientist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.
The scientists published their findings in a paper published in the journal Nature Astronomy.
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Cover: The Red Spider Nebula, ESA/Hubble