14 DAY TRIAL // A group of astronomers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UWM), led by expert Sebastian Heinz, determined in a new study that the X-ray binary Circinus X-1 is the youngest such structure ever discovered in space.
The researchers say that the object is no more than 4,600 years old, meaning that it most likely appeared at a time when ancient Egypt was still ruled by pharaohs. An X-ray binary is a system consisting of a stellar remnant and a companion star.
Stellar remnants in such binaries can be either black holes or neutron stars. Their main feature is that they are continuously accreting matter from their companions, and siphoning it into their cores. The process created a structure called an accretion disk around the remnants, which produces X-rays.
The radiations are caused by massive amounts of friction that occur in the disk, or simply when matter is channeled into a black hole or neutron star. The materials can be heated to temperatures of several million degrees, and this causes them to release extremely energetic light.
For this study, the Circinus X-1 X-ray binary was observed using the NASA Chandra X-ray Observatory (CXO), a veteran telescope that has been studying the high-energy Universe since 1999.
Heinz and his group say that a careful analysis of Chandra data revealed that the maximum age of the X-ray binary system is probably less than 4,600 years. The finding was confirmed by readings from the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) radio telescope, in Australia.
Due to its young age, this particular binary allows scientists more insights into supernova explosions (which produce stellar remnants), as well as additional data on how these extremely luminous and energetic blasts influence companion stars in binary systems.
“X-ray binaries provide us with opportunities to study matter under extreme conditions that would be impossible to recreate in a laboratory. For the first time, we can study a newly minted neutron star in an X-ray binary system,” Heinz explains.
“It's critical that we see what these X-ray binaries are doing at all stages of their lives. Circinus X-1 is showing us what happens in a cosmic blink of an eye after one of these objects is born,” comments UWM expert and study coauthor, Paul Sell.
A paper detailing the study was published in the December 3 issue of the esteemed Astrophysical Journal.