NASA captures record-setting X-ray burst from outer space
NASA has detected a massive thermonuclear explosion coming from outer space, caused by a massive thermonuclear flash on the surface of a pulsar the crushed remains of a star that long ago exploded as a supernova. NASA's Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer telescope on the International Space Station detected a sudden spike of X-rays on August 20, reports the US space agency. We see a two-step change in brightness, which we think is caused by the ejection of separate layers from the pulsar surface, and other features that will help us decode the physics of these powerful events," said lead researcher Peter Bult, an astrophysicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. Astronomers employ a concept called the "Eddington limit", named after English astrophysicist Sir Arthur Eddington, to describe the maximum radiation intensity a star can have before that radiation causes the star to expand.
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