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Star Within a Star: Thorne-Zytkow Object Discovered
astroengine writes: "A weird type of 'hybrid' star has been discovered nearly 40 years since it was first theorized — but until now has been curiously difficult to find. In 1975, renowned astrophysicists Kip Thorne, of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena, Calif., and Anna Zytkow, of the University of Cambridge, UK, assembled a theory on how a large dying star could swallow its neutron star binary partner, thus becoming a very rare type of stellar hybrid, nicknamed a Thorne-Zytkow object (or TZO). The neutron star — a dense husk of degenerate matter that was once a massive star long since gone supernova — would spiral into the red supergiant's core, interrupting normal fusion processes. According to the Thorne-Zytkow theory, after the two objects have merged, an excess of the elements rubidium, lithium and molybdenum will be generated by the hybrid. So astronomers have been on the lookout for stars in our galaxy, which is thought to contain only a few dozen of these objects at any one time, with this specific chemical signature in their atmospheres. Now, according to Emily Levesque of the University of Colorado Boulder and her team, a bona fide TZO has been discovered and their findings have been accepted for publication in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Letters."
Nuff' said.
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Did they try putting an ad within an ad on this article about a star within a star?
(T>t && O(n)--) == sqrt(666)
"a dense husk of degenerate matter"
Sounds like the average slashdotter. *rimshot*
" an excess of the elements rubidium, lithium and molybdenum will be generated by the hybrid."
Just what we need, a hybrid that makes Lithium
I used to think adblock was unnecessary back when google was doing the whole "unobtrusive text ad" thing, and I saw a future with hope for ads being reasonable things. But it's been years since that was worth worrying about.
Marketers haven't learned that their obnoxiousness is a tragedy of the commons thing, and upping that factor to compete just quietly hurts the marketplace as a whole.
I'm eagerly awaiting the day when all communication on the internet can be done either via cat pictures or quoting memes
we're getting closer and closer.
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---
DRM is like antifreeze, to the MPAA/RIAA it's sweet, to the consumers it's poison.
This "Star within a star" thing has been a phenomenon commonly known in Hollywood since the days Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks.
A place so big and fantastic where anything that is theoretically possible has probably happened hundreds or thousands, if not millions, of times.
The star in question is a ball gravitationally bound of gas that has a reasonably well defined perimeter, with a neutron star (a ball of also gravitationally bound degenerate matter) orbiting it at some distance.
The neutron star which was orbiting the other star, is now (due to the first star expanding as it transitions to the red giant stage) within the perimeter of the first star.
So in other words: the same damn definition of "inside" you use for things in every day life, what's to not understand?
My body is a big swarm of atoms but somehow I'm able to tell when a piece of food is within my mouth. Go figure.
It's not a good idea to use words one doesn't understand just because they might sound cool. A husk is a left over outer shell or covering. A neutron star derives from the inner layers and core of the original star--the summary writers could hardly have chosen a more ill-fitting word. That the degenerate matter in a neutron star is a superfluid, juxtaposed with the more specific meaning of husk as the _dried_ outer portion of a fruit or nut, takes this misuse of the word into the realm of the ludicrous.
"Politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason."
Don't worry, you'll be able to understand simple concepts again when the LSD wears off. Until then there must be more interesting things than posting on slashdot for you to do!
Spoken like someone who has never taken LSD.
Be seeing you...
Imagine you are just standing there and then WHAM! a very large soap bubble slams in to you and all of a sudden you are inside the bubble and the bubble happened to close in around you without popping. You are now inside the bubble and you are still a distinguishable unit of matter detectable from the bubble you're now inside.
rubidium, lithium and molybdenum
And strontium and silicon and silver and samarium and bismuth, bromine, helium, beryllium and barium. These are the only ones of which the news has come to Harvard--there may be many many but they haven't been discovered.
I use ABP regularly - I didn't even realise that ads were used on slashdot
...yo dawg, I heard you like ads...