All articles tagged with #gamma cas
XRISM observations reveal that Gamma Cassiopeiae’s peculiar X-rays come from matter falling onto a hidden white-dwarf companion, solving a 160-year mystery and prompting new models of binary evolution in Be-star systems.
Astronomers using the XRISM X-ray observatory have shown that the Be-star gamma-Cas is being slowly fed by a compact companion, likely a white dwarf, explaining its unusual X-ray emissions and solving a long-standing mystery about this nearby star.
XRISM data show gamma Cas’s extreme X-rays track the orbit of a magnetized white dwarf siphoning material from its Be-star companion, not the Be star itself, confirming a Be–white-dwarf binary and prompting new models of binary evolution.