Астронет: Астрономическая картинка дня Остывающая нейтронная звезда http://variable-stars.ru/db/msg/1381813/eng |
Credit & Copyright: NASA/CXC/M. Weiss
Explanation:
The bright source near the center is a neutron star,
the incredibly dense, collapsed remains of a massive stellar core.
Surrounding it is
supernova remnant
Cassiopeia A (Cas A), a
comfortable
11,000 light-years away.
Light from the
Cas A supernova,
the death explosion of a massive star,
first reached Earth about 350 years ago.
The expanding debris cloud spans about 15 light-years in this composite
X-ray/optical image.
Still hot enough to emit X-rays, Cas A's
neutron star is cooling.
In fact, years of observations with the orbiting
Chandra X-ray Observatory find that
the
neutron star is cooling rapidly --
so rapidly that researchers suspect a large part of the
neutron star's core is forming a frictionless
neutron superfluid.
The Chandra results represent the first observational evidence for this
bizarre state of neutron matter.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.