Superstar Eta Carinae Shoots Cosmic Rays

A new study using data from NASA's NuSTAR space telescope suggests that the most luminous and massive stellar system within 10,000 light-years, Eta Carinae, is accelerating particles to high energies -- some of which may reach Earth as cosmic rays.

Cosmic rays with energies greater than 1 billion electron volts (eV) come to us from beyond our solar system. But because these particles -- electrons, protons and atomic nuclei -- all carry an electrical charge, they veer off course whenever they encounter magnetic fields. This scrambles their paths and masks their origins.

Eta Carinae, located about 7,500 light-years away in the southern constellation of Carina, contains a pair of massive stars whose eccentric orbits bring them unusually close every 5.5 years. The stars contain 90 and 30 times the mass of our Sun.

Both stars drive powerful outflows called stellar winds, which emit low-energy X-rays where they collide. NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope observes gamma rays -- light packing far more energy than X-rays -- from a source in the direction of Eta Carinae. But Fermi's vision isn't as sharp as X-ray telescopes, so astronomers couldn't confirm the connection.

To bridge this gap, astronomers turned to NASA's NuSTAR observatory. Launched in 2012, NuSTAR can focus X-rays of much greater energy than any previous telescope. The team examined NuSTAR observations acquired between March 2014 and June 2016, along with lower-energy X-ray observations from the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton satellite over the same period.

NuSTAR detects a source emitting X-rays above 30,000 eV, some three times higher than can be explained by shock waves in the colliding winds. For comparison, the energy of visible light ranges from about 2 to 3 eV.

The researchers say both the X-ray emission s een by NuSTAR and the gamma-ray emission seen by Fermi is best explained by electrons accelerated in shock waves where the winds collide. The X-rays detected by NuSTAR and the gamma rays detected by Fermi arise from starlight given a huge energy boost by interactions with these electrons.

Some of the superfast electrons, as well as other accelerated particles, must escape the system and perhaps some eventually wander to Earth, where they may be detected as cosmic rays. Zoom into Eta Carinae, where the outflows of two massive stars collide and shoot accelerated particles cosmic rays into space.

Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

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[Neumah]

Very cool and pretty. But the text is stealing my eyes so I keep having to pause the video to read without missing the cool prettiness. Voice over maybe?

[dubsteppanda]

It’s funny how me and you, sitting at home seeing space only threw YouTube and camera effects when we haven’t seen it with our own eyes

[BartSibrel]

Thanks Goddard for the video!
There is no mention as to the Date of Arrival of the Cosmic Rays or their Effect on Earth.
Could you please answer theses two questions?
Thank You!

[proccesus]

I pity for the allien life around. Space can be so rough for DNA trying to evolve

[GAWARZMBASRY]

You could know the orbit and mass although the distance so what about the white light which saucer amongst it

[danbee]

Wow that view of our galaxy, so distinct and visually perplexing. I wonder if nasa will ever get into the gaming industry, could be an area for growth

[mariesavannah]

No matter what NASA say our creator is still in control nothing take place in the universe or on earth without his will

[fraserhenderson]

This is like "The Bickerson's" of the cosmos.
I hate having something like this so close, it's like bikers living at the end of your block.

[randolfocarlos]

Quando ela explodir se tornará um buraco negro?

[Nicoslast]

Eggcellent. Well done on the cgi nasa!

[BobSpar]

I am never sure if I am looking at a filtered image or an artists simulation, and that pisses me off.
So tired of looking at someones Star Trek imagination!

I cant see it, but from my theory of the universe, the small star when getting really close should extinguish and almost turn into a normal planet, and then as it moves away it should light up again. They should both get dimmer in close proximity, almost stop firing.

And if someone says when they collide, they going to die, turn into a black hole and cause gravity waves... go work for Hollywood!

Is this inside or outside a galaxy... outside or near the edge I presume!

My guess is they dying... but its not because they paired, which makes absolutely no difference, its because their galaxy is dying.
So they will try feed the dying galaxy, after that the other stars will go one by one.

So things like is there a large galaxy nearby sucking on them? Our astrophysicists are like deer blinded by the headlights, bet they not even looking at that... man!