Beer is the key to astronomy scoop
BRIBERY will get you everywhere, according to a group of astronomers in CPES who have just scooped the astronomical world, thanks to some quick observation and the promise of beer. The group, led by Dr Paul Roche, has identified a star which is the optical counterpart to a unique X-ray source. Known by the uninspiring name of SAX J1808.4-3658, this bizarre X-ray source consists of a normal star from which material is pouring onto the fastest spinning X-ray pulsar ever discovered - a dead star weighing as much as the Sun, but only 20 km across and spinning 400 times a second! Such a system was hypothesised over a decade ago as the "missing link" between various classes of X-ray and radio stars, and the hunt for such a system has been something of a Holy Grail to workers in this field.
Following a tip-off from a friend at MIT, Paul Roche obtained optical and infrared images of the area on the sky where the X-ray source was located. This was done by the rather unorthodox technique of promising to buy beer for the regular observers on the Canary Islands and Hawaii.
"Some might consider this a little unfair, as these poor guys are stuck 3 km up a freezing cold mountain, late at night with their brains starved of oxygen, " says Paul. "But they'd do anything for the promise of a beer, and I'm prepared to suffer a night out in the name of science!"The observations were taken swiftly as the X-ray source flared up rapidly but then faded, and it has since vanished. Research students Luisa Morales and Rob Hynes have revealed the presence of a 'new' star (see picture, left) which was confirmed as the X-ray source by colleagues in Australia. The chase is on to study it before it fades too, as it is currently 100,000 times fainter than stars which can be seen by the naked eye. The interest generated by these results has produced two papers currently in press, to be published in Nature.
A Picture is worth 1000 words, or in this case 10 pints! The circled star is present only when the X-ray source is active, and disappears shortly after the X-rays vanish.