They found one of the rarest stars in our galaxy

An international team of astronomers has discovered rare starwhat was it for doubts about his existence.. It’s about white dwarf pulsar, a singularity that has only been detected once in our galaxy. The problem is that in the presence of a single star, it could not be argued that it exists as such and that there was no question of some kind of detection error. Now, adding one more to the list, it seems more likely that what was not known to exist is indeed a reality.

And the fact is that many white dwarfs and many pulsars are known, but the combination of both is truly strange. In fact, it seems almost contradictory. but here it is J1912-4410rare star located 773 light yearsto show us that what we thought was impossible is possible.

His discovery has been detailed in two studies, so the data can be read with more confidence. But let’s see what they both have to say.

From white dwarf to pulsar

To understand what this rare star looks like, we must first remember what a white dwarf is and what a pulsar is made of. Before talking about white dwarfs, we must remember How stars form and develop.

Roughly speaking, a star is born from the accumulation of dust and gas rich in helium and hydrogen from the nebula thickens and collapses. This is what is known as protostar and little by little it heats up until it reaches the right temperature to carry out nuclear fusion using hydrogen as fuel. Nuclear fusion can cause star expansion. However, it is so massive that its own gravity compensates for this effect.

But this cannot happen forever. There comes a point when the fuel starts to wear out, so lose weight and gravity is not enough to prevent it from expanding. As fuel gets scarcer and scarcer, the star inflates more and more, reaching an end that will depend on its mass. If it’s a medium-sized star, when there’s no fuel left, its outermost layers separate, leaving only the core, which we know as a white dwarf.

On the other hand, if the star is more massive than the white dwarf, then what is known as supernovaoh from there, go to neutron star. As for the pulsar, it is a rapidly rotating neutron star, while millisecond scales. This rotation, together with the powerful magnetic field of the star, causes the emission of rays. electromagnetic radiation out of the magnetic poles. As the star rotates, these rays move out of our field of vision, like a beacon. It is something permanent, but we see it as if pulsating. Hence its name because it looks like pulsing light.

Until recently, white dwarfs were thought to be too small to become pulsars. However, in 2016, AR Scorpii, a rare star that combines the characteristics of a pulsar and a white dwarf, was discovered. This was a real discovery, which showed that what was considered impossible could happen in our galaxy. But the sample size for the study was one star. Now, thanks to this new discovery, scientists have more information. And it is that at cosmic distances and in the vastness of the universe, Two stars are much more than one.

Rare star accompanying AR Scorpii

Something very interesting that was observed with AR Scorpii is that this rare star received enough energy to release those rays that turned it into a pulsar thanks to companion star. The white dwarf is not alone, it is part of a binary system along with red dwarf. It was originally thought that its spin rate was due to it stealing mass from its companion star. However, the rotation was so fast that it would take much more mass than the red dwarf needs to steal it away, despite the magnetic field.

For this reason, it has been hypothesized that perhaps the white dwarf did not have a magnetic field at first, so it could gradually steal mass from its companion as it spins faster and faster. Then, as the white dwarf continues to cool due to lack of fuel, the internal density changes. Thus, the rotating fluid converts kinetic energy into magnetic energy, eventually forming a magnetic field. The process is similar to the process dynamo a bicycle that gets the energy to turn on the light by spinning the wheels.

All this was a hypothesis. Astronomers needed to find more examples white dwarf pulsars, so they began to look for possible candidates. To do this, they studied the changes in its light and measured the emission of X-rays and radio waves. Thus, they found two dozen candidates. Of all of them, one had vibrations in his light, similar to the pulsations of the AR of Scorpio. They were looking at another rare star with the characteristics of a white dwarf pulsar.

J1912-4410 is also close to the red dwarf., so he could steal mass like AR Scorpii. Their characteristics are the same, but now it will be necessary to continue the study in order to better understand this strange phenomenon in the universe.