{"id":12952,"date":"2016-07-27T13:00:54","date_gmt":"2016-07-27T17:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=12952"},"modified":"2016-07-27T11:53:18","modified_gmt":"2016-07-27T15:53:18","slug":"eso-white-dwarf-star-blasts-particle-beam-at-companion-red-dwarf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=12952","title":{"rendered":"ESO: White dwarf star blasts particle beam at companion red dwarf"},"content":{"rendered":"

ESO<\/a>\u00a0(European Southern Observatory) released this report today about an unusual star system first observed by a group of amateur astronomers:<\/p>\n

White Dwarf Lashes Red Dwarf with Mystery Ray<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Astronomers using ESO\u2019s Very Large Telescope, along with other telescopes on the ground and in space, have discovered a new type of exotic binary star. In the system AR Scorpii a rapidly spinning white dwarf star powers electrons up to almost the speed of light. These high energy particles release blasts of radiation that lash the companion red dwarf star, and cause the entire system to pulse dramatically every 1.97 minutes with radiation ranging from the ultraviolet to radio. The research will be published in the journal Nature on 28 July 2016.<\/p>\n

\"This<\/a>
This artist\u2019s impression shows the strange object AR Scorpii. In this unique double star a rapidly spinning white dwarf star (right) powers electrons up to almost the speed of light. These high energy particles release blasts of radiation that lash the companion red dwarf star (left) and cause the entire system to pulse dramatically every 1.97 minutes with radiation ranging from the ultraviolet to radio. Larger image<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In May 2015, a group of amateur astronomers from Germany, Belgium and the UK came across a star system that was exhibiting behaviour unlike anything they had ever encountered. Follow-up observations led by the University of Warwick and using a multitude of telescopes on the ground and in space [1]<\/a>, have now revealed the true nature of this previously misidentified system.<\/p>\n

The star system AR Scorpii, or AR Sco for short, lies in the constellation of Scorpius<\/a>, 380 light-years from Earth. It comprises a rapidly spinning white dwarf<\/a> [2]<\/a>, the size of Earth but containing 200 000 times more mass, and a cool red dwarf companion one third the mass of the Sun [3]<\/a>, orbiting one another every 3.6 hours in a cosmic dance as regular as clockwork.<\/p>\n