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ScienceQuiet 3d · day 5

XRISM directly observes pulsar capturing stellar wind from giant companion

Japan-led X-ray observatory captures first clear evidence of matter falling onto a neutron star from a nearby supergiant.

newest coverage 3d agosummary written 3d ago4 pieces NewswiresGoogle NewsMastodon

What to know

  • XRISM captured the first direct spectroscopic evidence of stellar wind being captured by a neutron star pulsar in the BP Crucis system.
  • Iron absorption lines in X-ray spectra revealed plasma flowing toward the pulsar at ~335,000 mph, confirmed by redshift analysis.
  • The observation explains the mechanism behind strong X-ray flares that occur twice per orbit when the pulsar encounters dense plasma streams from its blue hypergiant companion.
  • The findings advance understanding of matter accretion onto compact objects and validate theoretical models of high-mass X-ray binary systems.

“It was clear that these observations were groundbreaking, but at the same time this meant the analysis had to be especially detailed. We could see how the dense stream of plasma acts very close to the neutron star.”

Nazma Islam, Co-author, Manipal Centre for Natural Sciences · NASA ↗

Roi Rahin Lead researcher, UMBC/NASA GoddardNazma Islam Co-author, formerly UMBC/NASA GoddardNASA and JAXA Mission operators

XRISM directly observes pulsar capturing stellar wind from giant companion
NASA breaking

How it unfolded 1 development · click the chart to see its coverage articlesposts

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Sep 19Sep 20Sep 21Sep 22yesterdaynow · 2:02 AM ET
  1. 1

    Research team publishes findings in Science Advances

    A paper describing the direct observation of wind plasma falling onto the neutron star pulsar GX 301-2 was published Friday in the journal Science Advances, with analysis of iron absorption lines revealing plasma velocities.

    “We've never before seen clear indications of wind plasma falling onto a compact object. We can now test our understanding of these processes in much greater detail.”
    — Roi Rahin, Lead researcher, UMBC/NASA Goddard · source
    • cosmos4u@scicomm.xyz

      Direct spectroscopic observation of matter falling onto a compact stellar object: https://www. science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv .aef6686 -> NASA-JAXA XRISM Mission Sees # Pulsar Gathering Companion’s ‘Wind’: https:// science.nasa.gov/missions/xris m/xrism-sees-pulsar-gathering-companions-wind/

      cosmos4u@scicomm.xyzMastodon3d agoview on Mastodon ↗
  2. background

    XRISM team reports first direct evidence of stellar wind capture — Roi Rahin and collaborators announce that iron absorption lines displaced to lower energies (redshift) indicate gas flowing toward the pulsar at speeds of around 335,000 mph, the first clear spectroscopic confirmation of this process.

  3. background

    XRISM observes BP Crucis system during X-ray flare — Researchers targeted the BP Crucis binary system with the XRISM observatory for about 16 hours near the end of a strong X-ray flare, capturing highly detailed X-ray spectra from the Resolve instrument.

Also covered reported alongside — the timeline has no entry for these yet

  1. 3 outlets NASA-JAXA XRISM Mission Sees Pulsar Gathering Companion’s ‘Wind’

    first by NASA breaking, 5d ago · also Mirage News, NASA

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