Powerful jet discovered from a sort of "wrong star"

Astronomers have discovered a jet of fast moving material that they believe would have been propelled to the outside of a type of neutron star.

Observed with Karl G. Jansky, Very Large Array (VLA) of the National Science Foundation, the conclusion is special because it was previously thought that the star was unable to launch such a jet.

As a result, scientists have stated that they may have to fundamentally revise their ideas about how these streams come from this type of star.

Neutron stars are super-dense objects, the remains of massive stars that have exploded like supernovas. In binary pairs with "normal" stars, their powerful gravity can move the material away from their companions.

This material forms a disk, called accretion disk, rotating around the neutron star. The jets of matter are propelled at the speed of light, perpendicular to the disc.

"We have seen jets from all types of neutron stars pulling material from their companions, with one exception. Never before have we seen a jet coming from a neutron star with a very strong magnetic field, "said Jakob van den Eijnden from the University of Amsterdam.

"This led to a theory that strong magnetic fields prevent the formation of jets."

However, the new discovery contradicts this theory.