Science / Medicine : Star Found to Be Killing Neighbor

Astronomers have discovered a tiny, rapidly rotating neutron star that appears to be murdering a companion sun in a case of celestial fratricide that promises to shed light on stellar evolution and death. The “eclipsing millisecond pulsar,” the massive remnant of an exploded sun, and its companion white dwarf star are located in Terzan 5, a globular star cluster near the center of the Milky Way galaxy at a distance of about 24,000 light years.

The newly discovered pulsar, known as PSR 1744-24, and its white dwarf companion whirl about each other every 109 minutes at a distance of just 18,600 miles--1/13th the distance from the Earth to the moon--according to a report in the British journal Nature.

The pulsar, about six miles wide, has 1 1/2 times the mass of our sun. The white dwarf, a small star in the final stages of its life, is about the size of the Earth. The two stars are so close to each other that the pulsar’s intense radiation is blowing away the atmosphere of the white dwarf so that it will eventually dwindle to nothing, researchers said.