Astronomers Say , Neutron Jet Emissions , Travel at Relativistic Speeds.
Gizmodo reports that new research suggests that the dense remains of massive stars propel jets of gas and dust at speeds of hundreds of millions of miles per hour.
Neutron stars are the stellar remains of some of the densest objects in the universe.
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According to new research, neutron star jets can travel up to 70,836 miles per hour, just over one-third the speed of light.
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Relativistic effects like time dilation and length contraction are believed to occur at speeds exceeding just one-tenth the speed of light.
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James Miller Jones, , an astrophysicist at Curtin University in Australia and co-author of the research, .
Notes that neutron stars are, "so dense that they can pull material off the surface of a nearby companion star.".
That gas spirals down onto the surface of that neutron star where it gets very, very hot and dense.
Once enough of it builds up nuclear fusion reactions start to happen on the surface, James Miller Jones, astrophysicist at Curtin University in Australia and co-author, via 'Gizmodo'.
Using the Australia Telescope Compact Array and the International Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory, researchers found that thermonuclear explosions on distant stars kickstart these high-speed jet emissions.
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When these explosions occurred, they generated high-speed jets and bright X-rays which made it possible for researchers to measure speeds.
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The findings suggest that the staggering speed of these emissions is close to escape speed, or the needed velocity for material to escape the neutron star's gravitational speed.
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Gizmodo reports that the team's results will inform future models of jet formation and could help reveal some of the most extreme physics in the universe.
