gary
20-11-2018, 11:49 AM
These stellar winds have created the elaborate plumes surrounding the triple star system — which consists of a binary star system and a companion single star bound together by gravity. Though only two star-like objects are visible in the image, the lower source is in fact an unresolved binary Wolf-Rayet star. This binary is responsible for sculpting the serpentine swirls surrounding Apep, which are formed in the wake of the colliding stellar winds from the two Wolf-Rayet stars.
ESO press release and image here :-
https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1838/
Thankfully we won't be in the death zone for the GRB, despite it being only 8000 ly distant.
Article in Sydney Morning Herald :-
https://www.smh.com.au/national/super-powerful-interstellar-ticking-time-bomb-found-not-far-from-earth-20181119-p50gyy.html
Nature Astronomy article (subscription or purchase required).
"Anisotropic winds in a Wolf–Rayet binary identify a potential gamma-ray burst progenitor" by Callingham et. al.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-018-0617-7
ESO press release and image here :-
https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1838/
Thankfully we won't be in the death zone for the GRB, despite it being only 8000 ly distant.
Article in Sydney Morning Herald :-
https://www.smh.com.au/national/super-powerful-interstellar-ticking-time-bomb-found-not-far-from-earth-20181119-p50gyy.html
Nature Astronomy article (subscription or purchase required).
"Anisotropic winds in a Wolf–Rayet binary identify a potential gamma-ray burst progenitor" by Callingham et. al.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-018-0617-7