Orpington Astronomical Society

Astronomy => In the Media... => Topic started by: mickw on Mar 05, 2008, 18:19:59

Title: Violent Collision of Stellar Winds Detected
Post by: mickw on Mar 05, 2008, 18:19:59
For the first time, astronomers have pinpointed the spot where the intense winds of two massive stars in a binary system violently collide and detected the production of high-energy X-rays there.
The monstrously large Eta Carinae binary contains between 100 and 150 times the mass of the sun and glows more brightly than four million suns together. The so-called hypergiant contains two massive stars, the second of which was not discovered until 2005.
More:  http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/080303-mm-stellar-wind-collision.html