Astronomers Explore Spider Pulsar’s Habits in Omega Centauri Cluster
Omega Centauri, the largest globular star cluster in the Milky Way, has been a subject of interest for astronomers who recently observed the destruction of nearby stars by a spider pulsar.
The spider pulsar, a type of millisecond pulsar, is a neutron star that has a companion star and has been observed to exhibit spider-like habits, devouring its companion star much like some species of spiders have the habit of killing and eating their partners. The findings were made using data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory.
A team of American and Canadian astronomers detected 18 millisecond pulsars in the constellation Omega Centauri, situated about 17,700 light-years away from Earth. Upon analyzing the data, they discovered that 11 of these millisecond pulsars emit X-rays, with five of them being spider pulsars concentrated near the center of Omega Centauri.
What makes the spider pulsars especially intriguing to astronomers is their ability to be divided into two types based on the size of the destroyed companion star. There are “redback” spider pulsars, whose companion stars have a mass between 1/10 and 1/2 of the mass of the sun, and then there are “black widow” spider pulsars, which have a companion star with less than 5% of the mass of the sun.
Furthermore, it was found that the X-rays emitted by the “redback” spider pulsars are brighter than those of the “black widow” spider pulsars, and the brightness of the X-rays emitted by spider pulsars is related to the mass of the companion star. The larger the companion star, the more X-rays the spider pulsar emits.
The close proximity between a spider pulsar and its companion star, usually only 1 to 14 times the distance between the Earth and the Moon, makes the energy particles emitted by the spider pulsar particularly lethal to the companion star.
The discovery of these spider pulsars and their habits in the Omega Centauri cluster provides valuable insights for astronomers in their quest to study millisecond pulsars in globular clusters. With the use of the Chandra X-ray Observatory, astronomers are continuing to explore and unravel the mysteries of these fascinating astronomical phenomena.