In the center of the Milky Way, astronomers have found a "broken bone" - one of the strands consisting of particles that emit radio waves was damaged. A new study suggests that it could have been damaged by a neutron star pulsar colliding with it at tremendous speed. UNN writes about this with reference to Wired.
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Powerful telescopes allow astronomers to see amazing elongated strands in the center of the Milky Way galaxy, which outline its spiral shape. These strands are called "galactic bones" - they consist of charged particles moving along magnetic fields and emitting radio waves.
Recently, scientists discovered that one of these bones, called the "Snake", has a fracture. This "Snake" is one of the longest and brightest threads, 230 light years long. A new study suggests that the cause of this "fracture" was a neutron star - the dense remnant of a massive star explosion.
According to a Harvard University study published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, a rapidly rotating pulsar may have crashed into the "Snake" at a speed of 1.6 to 3.2 million kilometers per hour.
Observations with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and the MeerKAT (South Africa) and Very Large Array (USA) radio telescopes confirmed that a pulsar is indeed present in the area.
Scientists believe that the collision with the neutron star disrupted the magnetic field of the "Snake" and deformed its radio signals. The NASA image shows the "Snake" itself and an object that is likely this neutron star.
Despite their tiny size and extreme density, pulsars have powerful magnetic fields that emit electromagnetic waves. Their signals are captured by radio telescopes, allowing astronomers to better understand the processes taking place in the depths of our galaxy.