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APOD
Astronomy Picture of the Day
Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
X-ray Moon and X-ray Star
Explanation: An X-ray star winks out behind the Moon in these before and after views of a lunar occultation of the galactic X-ray source designated GX5-1 . The false color images were made using data from the ROSAT orbiting observatory and show high energy X-rays in yellow (mostly from GX5-1), and lower energy X-rays in red (the Moon reflecting X-rays from the Sun ). GX5-1 is a binary system consisting of a neutron star and a companion star in mutual orbit about the system's center of mass. The gas in the companion star's outer envelope falls toward the neutron star and accumulates in a disk around it. This disk material swirls deeper in to the neutron star's gravitational well , and is finally dumped onto its surface - in the process creating tremendous temperatures and generating the high energy X-rays.
| Date | February 27, 1996 |
|---|---|
| Credit | Credit: ROSAT, MPE, NASA |
| Authors & editors: | Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP) |
| A service of: |
ASD at NASA / GSFC, NASA Science Activation & Michigan Tech. U. |