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NEW YORK (CNN) – The streaks of light from NASA's latest image look like airways, but it's a different way of looking at the sky as a whole. The arches actually follow the X-rays, recorded by the Neutron Interior Composition Explorer Star, known as the NICER.
NICER acts as a detector of cosmic sources coming from the International Space Station, which turns around the Earth every 93 minutes. NICER continues to follow these sources, even at night.
This chart of the sky represents the first 22 months of NICER's work, taking data from his nocturnal observations. Bows follow X-rays and energy particle strikes. The most used routes followed by NICER reveal the brightest and most prominent arches.
One of the objectives of NICER is to determine the size of neutron stars, which are the remains of dense stars. Determining the size of these remains accurately could reveal the mystery of the form that matter takes in their dense nuclei. Pulsars, or rapidly rotating neutron stars that seem to pulsate light, serve as targets for NICER.
NICER can also study pulsar X-rays to determine the speed and position of the detector, acting as a galactic GPS system, the agency said. This experience could pave the way for the future use of technology by space vehicles and even their own navigation in our solar system, or even beyond.
In 2017, the first collision detection between two neutron stars was carried out.
The collision created the first observed example of a single source emitting ripples in space-time, called gravitational waves, as well as light, which was released in the form of a surge gamma of 2 seconds. The collision also created heavy elements such as gold, platinum and lead, dispersing them across the universe in a kilonova – similar to a supernova – after the initial fireball.
Neutron stars are the smallest in the universe, with a diameter comparable to the size of a city like Chicago or Atlanta. These are the supernova remnants. But they are incredibly dense, with masses bigger than our sun. So, think of the sun, compressed in a big city.
The-CNN-Wire ™ and © 2018 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.
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