Interactive three-dimensional simulations & visualizations
Visualizing the beauty in physics and mathematics
Project maintained by zhendrikse Hosted on GitHub Pages — Theme by mattgraham
X-ray Binary Stars
A special class of binary stars is the X-ray binaries, so-called because they emit X-rays. X-ray binaries are made up of a normal star and a collapsed star (a white dwarf, neutron star, or black hole). These pairs of stars produce X-rays if the stars are close enough together that material is pulled off the normal star by the gravity of the dense, collapsed star. The X-rays come from the area around the collapsed star where the material that is falling toward it is heated to very high temperatures (over a million degrees!). — nasa.gov
This simulation shows such a binary star system. Matter from the red giant is spilling through the Roche lobe onto the collapsed star, via a hot spot and an accretion disk.
Artist impression of an X-ray binary system
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