New research on ‘Death Star’ that looks like a cosmic pinwheel reduces gamma-ray burst threat to Earth
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An illustration of the so-called “death star” known as Wolf-Rayet 104, which looks like a pin wheel. | Credit: Uc Berkeleg
A new study indicates that the “cosmic wheel” that astronomers fear can one day shower with deadly gamma rays may not be dangerous as it was thought once, as a new study indicates.
In the heart of The Pinwheel, a pair of huge hot stars lies closed in a Bilateral orbitIt is approximately 8000 Light years From the ground in the constellation of the bow. During the past two decades, Notes It revealed that the strong gas columns emitted by both stars collide with the vast area between them, and become intertwined and created a whirlpool stream of hot gas and dust in the sky.
Previous research also indicated that the Earth views the bottom of the axis of this system, known as Wolf-Rayet 104, which raises fears that The planet can be hit By intense Gamma rays It was released from the eventually explosive deaths. This led to the fateful title system “The Star of Death”.
A new analysis of the observations made in Cake Observatory In Hawaii, which measures the speeds of the two huge stars, their orbits and their features in their spectrums arising from the winds of collision indicate that the orbits of the stars tend from 30 to 40 degrees from the ground, making the threat less likely than before.
“When I started this project, I believed that the main focus would be the winds of collision, and it was an orbit of a given face,” said the author of the study, Grant Hill from the Kik Observatory in one of the last schools. statement. “Instead, I found something very unexpected – the orbit tends at least 30 or 40 degrees of the sky level.”
Infrared image of Wolf-Rayet 104, which was taken by the NIRC tool for Keck Observatory in 1998 | Credit: Uc Berkeleg
The results have also made an interesting mystery to astronomers in relation to the imbalance between the spiral of the dust monitored in the face and the stars.
This contradiction can refer to the most sophisticated physics in playing, such as unknown mechanisms so far may tend to dust from the tropical level, according to the new study.
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“This is a great example of how astronomy, we often start studying, and the universe surprises us with the puzzles that we did not expect,” Hill said in the statement. “In the end, this is the way we sometimes learn about the physics and the universe in which we live.
“In this case, Wolf-Rayet 104 has not yet made a surprise to us!”
The team’s research was published last November in the magazine Monthly notifications of the Royal Astronomical Society.
