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NASA scientists have discovered that a star system located about 7,500 light-years away from the Earth causes high-energy particles at the speed of light, some of which may rain on our planet in form of cosmic rays. 19659002] In recent decades, scientists have shown particular interest in Eta Carinae – seen in the southern constellation of Carina. The system contains a much larger pair of stars than our Sun and makes the brightest and most massive binary array within 10 000 light years of our planet. In the 19th century, it even became the brightest star in the night sky for a short time due to a strong explosion.
In five and a half years, the two stars of the system are at about 230 million kilometers the average distance between Sun and Mars. As this happens, the interaction between the two star bodies triggers a series of processes that ultimately lead to the production of cosmic rays.
"The two stars of Eta Carinae result in powerful stellar winds" Michael Corcoran, a member of the team who observed the star system, said in a statement from NASA. "When these winds collide during the orbital cycle, which produces a periodic signal in low energy X-rays, we have been following for more than two decades."
But, with these low-energy X's or "soft" -rays, NASA scientists have also witnessed signs of gamma rays that carry a lot more energy. The source of this energy was in the direction of Eta Carinae, but not particularly clear.
To solve the problem, the agency decided to use its NuSTAR space telescope that can make very accurate X-ray detections. The data collected from the observation, combined with the low energy X-ray results of ESA's XMM-Newton satellite, over a two-year period, suggest that the stars produce both rays X at low and high energy. 19659002] Low energy X-rays, as previously suggested, were the result of the collision between hot stellar winds of up to 40 million degrees Celsius, but the "hard" X-rays had energies of over 30,000 electron volts, which is much more importantly, the high energy X-rays varied with the orbit of the stars and even demonstrated an energy emission pattern similar to that observed during the detection of gamma rays.
That said, by linking all the channels together, the team came to the conclusion that these X-rays and high-energy gamma rays are produced due to the acceleration of electrons close to the speed of the light. According to the researchers, the collision of stellar winds produces violent shock waves that accelerate particles, which later interact with starlight, giving a powerful enough boost to produce ray rays
. at speeds comparable to those of light, an incredible boost of energy, "said Kenji Hamaguchi, the lead author of the study, in a statement. "Similar processes must occur in other extreme environments." Our analysis indicates that Eta Carinae is one of them. "
Some of these particles, as described by NASA, could be the same. escape from the system and reach the Earth in the form of cosmic rays.
It is already well established that cosmic rays energies greater than 1 billion electronvolts (eV) reach the Earth from different parts of the cosmos. But as the particles carry the electric charge, the magnetic field of the solar system and the Earth divert their trajectory, leaving no sign to detect where they come from.
The study entitled "Non-thermal accelerated radiographs in the binary Eta Carinae", was published on July 2 in the journal Nature Astronomy.
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