Astronomers observe warm winds blowing from a neutron star as it consumes matter from a nearby star

For the first time, a team of astronomers has found blasts of hot, warm and cold winds blowing from a neutron star whilst it consumes matter from a nearby star. The discovery provides new insight into the behaviours of some of the most extreme objects in the universe.

In this new study, led by the University of Southampton, a team of researchers from eleven countries, studied the eruption of the X-ray binary known as Swift J1858. The results, published in the journal Nature, showed persistent signatures of a warm wind at ultraviolet wavelengths occurring at the same time as signatures of a cold wind at optical wavelengths. This is the first time that winds from such a system have been seen across different bands of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Read the full story on the University of Southampton news page.