Thème :
Astronomie - Univers - Etoiles - Divers
Description :
(La description de cette image n'existe qu'en anglais) 47 Tucanae. This Chandra image provides the first complete census of compact binary stars in the core the globular cluster known as 47 Tucanae. As the oldest stellar systems in the Milky Way galaxy, globular clusters are laboratories for stellar and dynamical evolution. Nearly all objects in the Chandra images are 'binary systems,' in which a normal, Sun-like star companion orbits a collapsed star, either a white dwarf or neutron star. The data also reveal the presence of 'millisecond pulsars' that rotate extremely rapidly, between 100 to nearly 1,000 times a second. The relative numbers and components of the binary systems tell scientists about the formation and evolution of the globular cluster
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