Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison/S.Heinz et al; Optical: DSS; Radio: CSIRO/ATNF/ATCA

The youngest member of an important class of objects called X-ray binaries has been found using data from Chandra (blue) and the Australia Compact Telescope Array (purple). X-ray binaries consist of a dense object -- either a black hole or a neutron star -- in orbit with a star like the Sun. Researchers found that the neutron star in Circinus X-1 is less than 4,600 years old, making the X-ray binary much younger than any other known in the Milky Way. This discovery allows astronomers to study a critical phase after a supernova explosion and the birth of a neutron star.

Provider: Chandra X-ray Observatory

Image Source: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2013/cirx1/

Curator: Chandra X-ray Observatory, Cambridge, MA, USA

Image Use Policy: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/image_use.html