NASA | JPL-Caltech | GSFC | NuSTAR | 2016 Jan 05
[img3="NASA's Nuclear Spectroscope Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, has imaged a swathNASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, has captured the best high-energy X-ray view yet of a portion of our nearest large neighboring galaxy, Andromeda. The space observatory has observed 40 "X-ray binaries" -- intense sources of X-rays comprising a black hole or neutron star that feeds off a stellar companion.
of the Andromeda galaxy -- the nearest large galaxy to our own Milky Way galaxy.
Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/GSFC"]http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/nustar/2 ... 061-16.jpg[/img3][hr][/hr]
The results will ultimately help researchers better understand the role of X-ray binaries in the evolution of our universe. According to astronomers, these energetic objects may play a critical role in heating the intergalactic bath of gas in which the very first galaxies formed. ...
Other space missions, such as NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, have obtained crisper images of Andromeda at lower X-ray energies than the high-energy X-rays detected by NuSTAR. The combination of Chandra and NuSTAR provides astronomers with a powerful tool for narrowing in on the nature of the X-ray binaries in spiral galaxies. ...
