Are we witnesses of the birth of a Pulsar?

2002/04/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Astrofisika

The Hubble telescope and radio observation have supervised an exceptional system, a pulsar and a red giant star with their friends. The existence of this system is a mystery and the only explanation is the birth of the pulsar.

Although there are more than 90 types of classified pulsaras that do not know what makes a star reach that situation. So far it has been said that an old star absorbs the energy of her friend. This energy transfer accelerates the turning speed of the old and slow star until you reach hundreds of revolutions in seconds, that is, the bracelet is formed. At that moment, your red giant is left without energy and becomes a white dwarf.

However, Hubble's images have found that the friendly star is not a white dwarf, but a red giant star.

Researchers have also found large amounts of gas in the system. The pulsar also absorbs the gas of the friend star, which when separating it from its furniture usually carries with it.

Therefore, all data seems to indicate that the phase of creating a pulse makes the red giant become a white dwarf. Otherwise, the red giant would be a star that the pulsar has found on the road and the giant should remain the same.