中文翻譯:
在遙遠的宇宙中，當一顆大恆星爆炸成為超新星後，會誕生出一顆中子星。這顆中子星就像一顆閃亮的小星星，正在太空中飛快旋轉。Circinus X-1就是這樣一顆特別的中子星，它周圍的星雲叫做非洲星雲，這裡散發著神奇的光芒，照亮了天空。科學家們用在南非的MeerKAT無線電望遠鏡拍攝了這些美麗的畫面，能夠看見Circinus X-1的亮光和它正在噴出的飛行噴流。因為它的壽命只有4600年，科學家們認為它可能是微型雙星SS 433的小妹妹。奇妙的是，科學家們還發現了從星雲的上方冒出的一個氣泡，這讓他們知道更多的噴流曾經出現過。透過電腦模擬，科學家們推測，這些噴流在超新星爆炸後的100年內形成，並持續了長達1000年！讓人驚訝的是，這些噴流比原本想像中的中子星更強大，能創造出如此壯觀的氣泡！
原文:
How soon do jets form when a supernova gives birth to a neutron star? The Africa Nebula provides clues. This supernova remnant surrounds Circinus X-1, an X-ray emitting neutron star and the companion star it orbits. The image, from the ThunderKAT collaboration on the MeerKAT radio telescope situated in South Africa, shows the bright core-and-lobe structure of Cir X-1’s currently active jets inside the nebula. A mere 4600 years old, Cir X-1 could be the “Little Sister” of microquasar SS 433*. However, the newly discovered bubble exiting from a ring-like hole in the upper right of the nebula, along with a ring to the bottom left, demonstrate that other jets previously existed. Computer simulations indicate those jets formed within 100 years of the explosion and lasted up to 1000 years. Surprisingly, to create the observed bubble, the jets need to be more powerful than young neutron stars were previously thought to produce. Open Science: Browse 3,700+ codes in the Astrophysics Source Code Library
來源:NASA每日圖片
