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X-ray, Optical & Radio Images of Circinus X-1
The youngest member of an important class of objects called X-ray binaries has been found using data from Chandra and the Australia Compact Telescope Array. X-ray binaries consist of a dense object -- either a black hole or a neutron star -- in orbit with a star like the Sun. Researchers found that the neutron star in Circinus X-1 is less than 4,600 years old, making it much younger than any other X-ray binary known in the Milky Way. This discovery allows astronomers to study a critical phase after a supernova explosion and the birth of a neutron star.
(Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison/S.Heinz et al; Optical: DSS; Radio: CSIRO/ATNF/ATCA)
The youngest member of an important class of objects called X-ray binaries has been found using data from Chandra and the Australia Compact Telescope Array. X-ray binaries consist of a dense object -- either a black hole or a neutron star -- in orbit with a star like the Sun. Researchers found that the neutron star in Circinus X-1 is less than 4,600 years old, making it much younger than any other X-ray binary known in the Milky Way. This discovery allows astronomers to study a critical phase after a supernova explosion and the birth of a neutron star.
(Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison/S.Heinz et al; Optical: DSS; Radio: CSIRO/ATNF/ATCA)
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Circinus X-1 Infographic
Researchers have found that the neutron star in Circinus X-1 is less than 4,600 years old, making it much younger than any other X-ray binary known in the Milky Way.
(Credit: Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison/S.Heinz et al)
Researchers have found that the neutron star in Circinus X-1 is less than 4,600 years old, making it much younger than any other X-ray binary known in the Milky Way.
(Credit: Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison/S.Heinz et al)
Return to Circinus X-1 (December 04, 2013)
Revised: December 04, 2013