Astronomers have detected 21 rare systems with widely separated neutron stars and sun-like stars. These binaries are "one in a million" and challenge dead...
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. An illustration of a sun-like star orbited by a hidden neutron star. | Credit: Caltech/Kareem El-Badry Astronomers have discovered 21 "one in a million" binary systems in which sun-like stars orbit a hidden "dead star," an extreme dense and compact object called a neutron star. One of the neutron stars discovered in this clutch of binaries is one of the most massive dead stars of this type ever seen. Though we are used to stars being singletons like our sun, at least half of all stars about the mass of the sun exist in binary systems. This proportion increases to 75% for more massive stars. As a result, stellar remnants like neutron stars and black holes (which are born from the deaths of giant stars) also exist in binaries, both with other dead stars and with massive stars. One binary configuration that has proved to be vanishingly rare, however, is a neutron star orbited by a sun-like star. Using the European Space Agency's (ESA) Gaia spacecraft, astronomers have discovered a new population of these elusive binary systems. Related: James Webb Space Telescope finds neutron star mergers forge gold in the cosmos: 'It was thrilling' Neutron stars are often found orbiting ordinary stars like the sun, but at close proximities that lead to these dead stars feeding on their companions like cosmic vampires. What makes this clutch of neutron star-normal star binaries so special is they are much more widely separated, making them something that could challenge our understanding of how systems like this are born. "Binary evolution models predict that neutron star and normal star binaries should be born mainly in tight orbits, with the neutron star and companion almost touching," discovery team leader Kareem El-Badry, a researcher at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA), told Space.com. "These binaries are much wider than this, with separations…