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February 16, 2006
Even More Stars To Look For
Astronomers have identified a new type of cosmic object they've named RRAT (rotating radio transients). To simplify, it's basically a neutron star left over from supernovas except with one major difference; these stars pack almost twice the mass as our own sun but in a space of a small city.
RRATs are similar to pulsars which steadily emit energy every second as they rotate. However RRATs only emit something every 3 minutes to 3 hours. The erratic behavior could be explained by energy being unable to escape the star's dense core.
Of course, nothing else is known about them but if they really are the left overs of supernovas, perhaps the energy they emit could give clues as to how old or how recent the supernova was.
Posted by tranism at 11:22 AM | Permalink
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