Astronomers Find First Gamma Ray Clock
Posted on: Monday, 27 November 2006, 15:00 CST
Astronomers using Namibia-located telescopes have discovered the first modulated signal from space containing very high energy gamma rays.
The signal was found by the High Energy Stereoscopic System of telescopes at Gamsburg Mountain in Namibia.
Regular signals from space have been known since the 1960s, when the first radio pulsar was discovered. This, however, is the first time a signal has been seen at such high energies -- 100,000 times higher than previously known.
The signal comes from a binary system called LS 5039, which is formed by a massive blue star 20 times the mass of the Sun and an unknown object, possibly a black hole. The two objects orbit each other at very short distance, varying between only 1/5 and 2/5 of the separation of the Earth from the Sun, with one orbit completed every four days.
The way in which the gamma ray signal varies makes LS5039 a unique laboratory for studying particle acceleration near compact objects such as black holes, said Paula Chadwick of the University of Durham, a British HESS team member.
The discovery is detailed in the current issue of the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.
Source: United Press International
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