Astronomers Say , Neutron Jet Emissions , Travel at Relativistic Speeds.
Gizmodo reports that new research suggests that
the dense remains of massive stars propel jets of gas and
dust at speeds of hundreds of millions of miles per hour.
Neutron stars are the stellar remains of
some of the densest objects in the universe. .
According to new research, neutron star jets
can travel up to 70,836 miles per hour,
just over one-third the speed of light. .
Relativistic effects like time dilation and length
contraction are believed to occur at speeds
exceeding just one-tenth the speed of light. .
James Miller Jones, , an astrophysicist at Curtin University in
Australia and co-author of the research, .
notes that neutron stars are, "so dense that they can pull material off
the surface of a nearby companion star.".
That gas spirals down onto the surface
of that neutron star where it gets very,
very hot and dense. Once enough of it
builds up nuclear fusion reactions
start to happen on the surface, James Miller Jones, astrophysicist at Curtin University
in Australia and co-author, via 'Gizmodo'.
Using the Australia Telescope Compact Array and the
International Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory, researchers found that thermonuclear explosions on
distant stars kickstart these high-speed jet emissions. .
When these explosions occurred, they generated
high-speed jets and bright X-rays which made
it possible for researchers to measure speeds. .
The findings suggest that the staggering
speed of these emissions is close to escape
speed, or the needed velocity for material to
escape the neutron star's gravitational speed. .
Gizmodo reports that the team's results will inform
future models of jet formation and could help reveal
some of the most extreme physics in the universe.