NICER Tracks SGR 1830’s Hot Spots (IMAGE)
Caption
This plot tracks 37 days of change in SGR 1830’s peak X-ray emission as seen by NASA’s Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER). In this graph, the star’s rotational phase advances from left to right, with the measured energy shown vertically. The green, yellow, and red areas indicate regions producing the greatest numbers of X-rays and are thought to represent the magnetar’s hot spots. They change in intensity and in their positions relative to one another as time goes on. For the first time, astronomers recorded two such spots merging.
Credit
NASA/NICER/G. Younes et al. 2022
Usage Restrictions
No restrictions.
License
Public Domain