New Delhi:
First gamma-ray have been found out by an international team of scientists. LMC P3 is the most luminous such system known in gamma rays, X-rays, radio waves and visible light, and it is only the second one discovered with Fermi.
The LMC P3, contains the highest-energy form of light. "Fermi has detected only five of these systems in our own galaxy, so finding one so luminous and distant is quite exciting," said lead researcher Robin Corbet at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Centre in the US.
"Gamma-ray binaries are prized because the gamma-ray output changes significantly during each orbit and sometimes over longer time scales," said Corbet. These rare systems contain either a neutron star or a black hole and radiate most of their energy in the form of gamma rays. The system lies within the expanding debris of a supernova explosion located in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC).
The star is so luminous that pressure from the light it emits actually drives material from the surface, creating particle outflows with speeds of several million miles an hour. When light from the star collides with high-energy electrons, it receives a boost to gamma-ray levels.
