Description
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AUDIO:
None.
VIDEO:
The most obscured celestial objects of our Galaxy: a neutron star orbiting around a supergiant star, inside a cocoon of dust created by the powerful wind of the supergiant star.
In the first case, a neutron star orbits around a supergiant along a roughly circular orbit. Since the cocoon of gas/dust totally blankets the whole system, the neutron star stays permanently inside the cocoon, so there is a persistent source of X-rays.
In the second case, the orbit is more eccentric and the neutron star crosses only periodically into the cocoon of gas/dust covering the supergiant. Therefore there is intermittent emission of X-rays during that time.
