GREENBELT, Md., July 13 (UPI) -- An international team of scientists has reportedly uncovered a rare type of neutron star so elusive it took three satellites to identify it.
The discovery, made using the European Space Agency's Integral satellite along with two NASA satellites, reveals new insights about star birth and death in the Milky Way Galaxy.
ESA scientists said the neutron star is an ultra-dense "ember" of an exploded star and was first seen by an ESA satellite during April. The neutron star is about 20,000 light years from Earth, obscured by dust and buried in a two-star system enshrouded by dense gas.
Neutron stars are the core remains of "supernovae" -- exploded stars once about 10 times as massive as the Sun.
"The right combination of X-ray and gamma-ray telescopes could reveal what is hiding there and provide new clues about the true star formation rate in our galaxy," said the study's lead author, Volker Beckmann of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Goddard Spaceflight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
The findings are to appear in the October issue of the Astrophysical Journal.