Detects extremely powerful sources of gamma radiation in the universe

The binary star system with strong colliding star wind is the source of intense gamma radiation.

According to UPI, the binary star system of Wolf-Rayet and OB stars produces very strong stellar winds . New data from the Fermi gamma-ray space telescope of the US Aerospace Agency (NASA) shows that when these star pairs have orbits close to each other, their stellar wind collisions can generate energy. photonic volume is greater than 100 MeV.

Picture 1 of Detects extremely powerful sources of gamma radiation in the universe
Illustration of the collision of stellar winds.(Photo: NASA).

The phenomenon was first observed in early 1834 on the binary star system Eta Carinae, 8,000 light-years from Earth. However, this single example is not enough to prove that the binary star system is the source of gamma radiation.

"Recent calculations have shown that binary star systems such as Eta Carinae are extremely rare," said Pshirkov, a researcher at the Sternberg Astronomical Institute, Lomonosov University in Moscow, Russia.

To find more examples of star systems like Eta Carinae, Pshirkov examines the study of US-Austrian scientists. They identified seven star systems, characterized by the Wolf-Rayet star, but lacked intense gamma radiation. Pshirkov conducted a review of the seven star systems with observations from the glass.

"The results showed that the Gamma Velorum star system is the source of gamma radiation ," Pshirkov said.

Gamma Velorum system consists of two stars. The smaller star has 10 times the mass of the Sun while the larger star weighs 30 times the Sun. Two giant stars are constantly losing material in the form of high-speed star wind. Stellar winds collide with each other to create high-energy radiation.