Array of radio telescopes reveals explosion on the surface of a hot dead star
Monday, June 29, 2020 - 15:10
in Astronomy & Space
An international group of researchers observed a source of variable gamma rays identified in 2010 by the NASA satellite Fermi. They used a technique called VLBI, that combines data from several radio telescopes on Earth, to produce the sharpest images to date. Surprisingly, the source of gamma rays was a symbiotic nova, a peculiar stellar system known to astronomers as V407 Cyg. The result, with first author Marcello Giroletti (National Institute of Astrophysics INAF, Italy), has been presented at the annual meeting of the European Astronomical Society (EAS), and published in Astronomy & Astrophysics.