AllatRa by Anastasia Novykh 2 www.allatra.org

AllatRa by Anastasia Novykh
bright star appeared in the sky, which could be seen even during the daytime. You
also mentioned then that it had been the light that had reached the Earth after the
explosion of a supernova located in the Taurus constellation in our Galaxy. I read that
the supernova remnants are now observed as the expanding Crab Nebula with a neutron
star (a pulsar) in its center, which the exploded star turned into. Interestingly, the radio
wave beam of this pulsar still slides along the Earth, just like a beam of a rotating
lighthouse slides along the sea surface as a signal for ships.
Surprisingly, this was the first neutron star in the Universe which scientists started
associating with supernova remnants. I was amazed by the fact that the size of this star is
assumed to be only 25 km; i.e. it is actually a star the size of a town, but which powers
the huge Crab Nebula. The neutron star is very dense. The most interesting thing is that
they started recently observing unexpectedly powerful emissions of gamma rays coming
from this pulsar in the Crab Nebula.
Rigden: Many interesting things have been happening lately not only on this planet but
also in space.
Anastasia: Yes, the process of birth of new stars is very interesting and informative…
Rigden (smiling): Undoubtedly so, but this process is also quite destructive for many
contemporary theories… The truth is that the visible process of star formation, which
can today be observed by scientists, begins with the formation of the so-called “prestellar
core”. In other words, despite modern equipment, astronomers are capable of
“discovering” (seeing, observing) the birth of a new star only at the stage of formation of
dense clouds of gas and dust; i.e. when matter, as a result of interaction, begins to radiate
energy, in particular what people call “light”. And only after studying the spectra, which
clearly indicate compression of individual sections in gas clouds, do they make
conclusions about the birth of a new star. However, astronomers cannot answer the
question how these clouds interact and what makes them contract. Nor can they say
where these clouds of gas and dust come from, why they appear, and, all the more, why
and how not only isolated stars but at times entire star clusters form out of the small
amount of matter located in these clouds.
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