An international squad of astronomers has discovered a raw grade of rapidly rotating asterisk . Their red-faced - orange color and squished shaped has earned them the name " pumpkin star " , and although in job with the season , these stars are really the result of stellar mergers .
These prima fusion were first proposed 40 year ago by Ronald Webbink , but researchers have now combine the power of the Kepler telescope and Swift observatory to find superstar emitting a lot of X - rays , a foretell augury for these objects .
In a paper published in theAstrophysical Journal , the research worker discourse the holding of 18 freshly discovered stars that emit at least 100 times more 10 - shaft of light than the Sun during its solar maximum .
Artist ’s notion of KSw 71 compared to the Sun . NASA ’s Goddard Space Flight Center / Francis Reddy
" These 18 star rotate in just a few days on average , while the sun takes nearly a calendar month , " say lead author Steve Howell , from NASA ’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field , California , in astatement . " The rapid rotation amplifies the same kind of activity we see on the sun , such as sunspots and solar flares , and essentially sends it into overdrive . "
The most utmost case in the sample is KSw 71 , a star 10 times larger and producing 4,000 times more X - rays than the Sun . The object spins on its axis in just 5.5 24-hour interval .
The stars were discovered using Swift , the gamma - ray and ecstasy - ray of light lookout station of NASA , on the Kepler field – one of the best - studied areas of the Sky . The Kepler scope has measured the luminosity of over 150,000 stars , and the neighborhood ( which is 12 times the region of the full moon ) has also been studied in infrared and UV .
" Webbink ’s model suggests we should receive about 160 of these stars in the intact Kepler field , " said carbon monoxide gas - author Elena Mason , a investigator at the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics Astronomical Observatory of Trieste . " What we have find is in channel with theoretical expectation when we account for the small serving of the field we note with Swift . "
Webbink proposed that binary systems where stars orbit very close to each other could not survive one of the hotshot becoming a red hulk . He propose that one of the stars would envelope the other , coalesce into a speedily spinning star .
