Star Within a Star: Thorne-Zytkow Object Discovered 89
astroengine writes: "A weird type of 'hybrid' star has been discovered nearly 40 years since it was first theorized — but until now has been curiously difficult to find. In 1975, renowned astrophysicists Kip Thorne, of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena, Calif., and Anna Zytkow, of the University of Cambridge, UK, assembled a theory on how a large dying star could swallow its neutron star binary partner, thus becoming a very rare type of stellar hybrid, nicknamed a Thorne-Zytkow object (or TZO). The neutron star — a dense husk of degenerate matter that was once a massive star long since gone supernova — would spiral into the red supergiant's core, interrupting normal fusion processes. According to the Thorne-Zytkow theory, after the two objects have merged, an excess of the elements rubidium, lithium and molybdenum will be generated by the hybrid. So astronomers have been on the lookout for stars in our galaxy, which is thought to contain only a few dozen of these objects at any one time, with this specific chemical signature in their atmospheres. Now, according to Emily Levesque of the University of Colorado Boulder and her team, a bona fide TZO has been discovered and their findings have been accepted for publication in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Letters."
Yo Dawg (Score:4, Funny)
Nuff' said.
Re:Yo Dawg (Score:5, Funny)
I'm eagerly awaiting the day when all communication on the internet can be done either via cat pictures or quoting memes
we're getting closer and closer.
Neutron star, or? (Score:5, Funny)
"a dense husk of degenerate matter"
Sounds like the average slashdotter. *rimshot*
Lithium (Score:4, Funny)
" an excess of the elements rubidium, lithium and molybdenum will be generated by the hybrid."
Just what we need, a hybrid that makes Lithium
Nothing New (Score:4, Funny)
This "Star within a star" thing has been a phenomenon commonly known in Hollywood since the days Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks.
Re:Our Universe is Awesome (Score:3, Funny)
I guess that means an honest politician is not even theoretically possible.
Apologies to Tom Lehrer (Score:4, Funny)
rubidium, lithium and molybdenum
And strontium and silicon and silver and samarium and bismuth, bromine, helium, beryllium and barium. These are the only ones of which the news has come to Harvard--there may be many many but they haven't been discovered.