Swarthmore Astronomers Discover New Star in Southern Cross
Contact: Alisa Giardinelli
agiardi1@swarthmore.edu
Swarthmore Astronomers Discover
New Star in Southern Cross
The companion star was discovered accidentally while the research team was using the orbiting Chandra X-ray Observatory to study the x-rays emitted by beta Crucis itself. "We were interested in how the highly supersonic stellar winds of hot, luminous stars produce x-rays," says team leader David Cohen, asssociate professor of astronomy. "We were surprised to see two strong x-ray sources where we had expected to see only one."
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Clockwise, the Southern Cross is prominently displayed on Australia's flag, with beta Crucis just right of the Union Jack; an optical image of the Southern Cross, with beta Crucis indicated by the yellow rectangle and its newly discovered companion shown at the lower left; the Chandra image is color coded, with high energy x-rays colored blue, medium energy x-rays colored green, and lower energy x-rays colored red.
![]() | Astrophysics major Michael Kuhn '07 (right) presented the findings at the American Astronomical Society meeting January 9. |
Astrophysics major Michael Kuhn '07 of Charlottesville, Va., presented the findings in Seattle. His work analyzing the x-ray data from both beta Crucis and its newly-discovered companion is the basis for a forthcoming paper on this project in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
Cohen' s research team also includes Swarthmore College Associate Professor of Astronomy Eric Jensen and Marc Gagné, associate professor in the geology and astronomy department at West Chester University of Pennsylvania. Their project was funded by NASA and by a Eugene M. Lang Summer Research Fellowship from Swarthmore.
Learn more (pdf).