14 DAY TRIAL // Astrophysicists operating the NASA Chandra X-ray Observatory (CXO) announce the discovery of a pulsar that appears to be escaping a supernova remnant located relatively close to Earth. The fast-moving object is releasing massive jets of highly-energetic particles as it makes a run for it.
These jets are the longest ever discovered in the entire Milky Way, astronomers explain. A pulsar is a special type of neutron star that releases jets of particles and radiations as it spins very fast around its axis. From Earth, such objects resemble lighthouses in space, hence their names.
The particular pulsar Chandra observed recently was designated IGR J11014-6103. What drew astronomers' attention to it was its very peculiar behavior, which experts say was caused by the interesting conditions in which it was born.
Neutron stars – pulsars and magnetars included – are formed through the collapse of massive stars that reach the end of their main sequence, or stable burning cycle. The original stars need to be at least 8 times more massive than the Sun to implode, and they form either neutron stars, or black holes, when they do implode.
Original observations of the pulsar, made by the European Space Agency's (ESA) INTEGRAL spacecraft, demonstrated that the object most likely originated in a supernova remnant called SNR MSH 11-61A. The neutron star is currently around 60 light-years away from the core of the formation.
Measurements indicate that IGR J11014-6103 is traveling at speeds between 4 and 8 million kilometers (2.5 and 5 million miles) per hour. As it moves, it releases a massive jet of energetic particles that spans 10 times the distance between the Sun and its closest stellar neighbor, Proxima Centauri.
Details of the study appear in the February 18 issue of the esteemed journal Astronomy and Astrophysics. The lead author of the paper is astronomer Lucia Pavan, who is based at the University of Geneva in Switzerland.
The expert says that the particle jets released by the pulsar have a distinctive, corkscrew-like pattern, which appears to indicate that the neutron star is wobbling as it makes its escape. The object also surrounds itself with a so-called pulsar wind nebula, which is basically yet another cocoon of high-energy particles.
“We can see this pulsar is moving directly away from the center of the supernova remnant based on the shape and direction of the pulsar wind nebula. The question is, why is the jet pointing off in this other direction?” comments University of Tuebingen astronomer and study coauthor, Pol Bordas.
“With the pulsar moving one way and the jet going another, this gives us clues that exotic physics can occur when some stars collapse,” adds expert Gerd Puehlhofer, also a study coauthor and an astronomer at the University of Tuebingen, in Germany.