Gamma rays detected from Cygnus X-3
NOV 30, 2009
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.023886
Science News : Some 30,000 light-years from Earth, a tiny gravitational monster is tearing material from a companion star, blasting x-rays into space, and sporadically hurling out jets of radio-wave-emitting blobs at close to the speed of light.Known as Cygnus X-3, this mercurial star system—thought to be either a small black hole or a neutron star orbiting an ordinary partner—has fascinated astronomers for more than four decades with its surprisingly bright x-ray emissions.Now, two teams of researchers have made the first definitive detection of high-energy gamma rays , the most powerful type of electromagnetic radiation, from this small but nearby stellar system. Related Link Discovery of extreme particle acceleration in the microquasar Cygnus X-3
© 2009. American Institute of Physics