Tour: Mysterious X-ray Signal in Dying Star Points to Destroyed Planet
(Credit: NASA/CXC/A. Hobart)
[Runtime: 02:48]

With closed-captions (at YouTube)

Astronomers have discovered a likely explanation for a fracture in a huge cosmic “bone” in the Milky Way galaxy, using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and radio telescopes.

The bone appears to have been struck by a fast-moving, rapidly spinning neutron star, also known as a pulsar. Neutron stars are the densest known stars and form from the collapse and explosion of massive stars. They often receive a powerful kick from these explosions, sending them away from the explosion’s location at high speeds.

Enormous structures that resemble bones or snakes are found near the center of the Galaxy. These elongated formations are seen in radio waves and are threaded by magnetic fields running parallel to them. The radio waves are caused by energized particles spiraling along the magnetic fields.

This image shows one of these cosmic “bones” called G359.13 for short in X-rays from Chandra and radio data from the MeerKAT radio array in South Africa. Another name for G359.13 is the Snake.

Astronomers examined this image closely and found what appears to be a break, or fracture, in the otherwise continuous length of G359.13. The combined X-ray and radio data provides clues to the cause of this fracture.

The researchers recently discovered an X-ray and radio source at the location of the fracture, using the data from Chandra and MeerKAT and the National Science Foundation’s Very Large Array. They think a pulsar likely caused the fracture by smashing into G359.13 when it struck the cosmic bone at a speed between one million and two million miles per hour. This collision distorted the magnetic field in the bone, causing the radio signal to also become warped.

At about 230 light-years long, G359.13 is one of the longest and brightest of these structures in the Milky Way. To put this into context, there are over 800 stars within that distance from Earth. G359.13 is located about 26,000 light-years from Earth, near the center of the Milky Way.

Quick Look: Mysterious X-ray Signal in Dying Star Points to Destroyed Planet
(Credit: NASA/CXC/A. Hobart)
[Runtime: 00:46]

With narration (video above with voiceover)

A cosmic “bone” has been fractured by a pulsar moving at over a million miles an hour.

Pulsars can be kicked into space at high speeds during the explosions that create them.

This pulsar smacked into this magnetized thread of gas near the center of the Milky Way.

Astronomers used NASA’s Chandra and radio telescopes together for this discovery.