Tidal Streams in Massive X-ray Binary Systems: Neutron Star Close-up

  • Released Tuesday, July 10, 1990
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A tiny neutron star orbits incessantly around a massive star with a diameter a million times larger than its own. The high luminosity of the massive star drives a strong wind from its surface. The neutron star crashes through this wind at over 300 kilometers per second. The gravity and X-ray luminosity of the neutron star act to disrupt the wind, producing an extended wake of dense gas trailing behind the neutron star. In this simulation, the tidal distortion of the primary star and the resultant tidal stream is shown.
The numerical simulations depicted here were computed using the Cray X-MP 48 at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

A close-up of the tidal distortion of a neutron star orbiting a massive star

Video slate image reads "We now show a close-up of the region in the vicinity of the neutron star."

Video slate image reads "We now show a close-up of the region in the vicinity of the neutron star."

Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
Scientific Visualization Studio

This page was originally published on Tuesday, July 10, 1990.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 2:00 PM EDT.

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Related papers

Blondin, J. M., Kallman, T. R. , Fryxell, B. A., Taam, R. E., Hydrodynamic Simulations of Stellar Wind Disruption by a Compact X-ray Source, ApJ, 356, 591-608, 1990

Blondin, J. M., Kallman, T. R. , Fryxell, B. A., Taam, R. E., Hydrodynamic Simulations of Stellar Wind Disruption by a Compact X-ray Source, ApJ, 356, 591-608, 1990