The Star That Devoured Its Friends: Science for Children

 

The European Space Agency's (ESA) Integral Observatory has discovered a star that is devouring its smaller neighbors. This neutron star, at least eight times heavier than the Sun, has a particle the size of a teaspoon weighing a billion tons. However, because its diameter is only 20 km, it is impossible to see this extremely dense star with ordinary telescopes. Detected during a routine sky survey by the Integral Observatory due to its powerful X-ray emission, the star has been identified as a pulsar. This is the fastest rotating pulsar detected to date. It has been determined that the Atarcan rotates around its own axis 600 times per second.

1. Stellar Cannibalism / Binary Star Mass Transfer

In binary star systems, if one star expands (e.g., during its red giant phase) or if the stars are close enough, material from one can be gravitationally pulled onto the other.

The accreting star literally “eats” its companion’s mass.

This can change the evolution of both stars, sometimes leading to phenomena like Type Ia supernovae (if a white dwarf accretes enough mass) or X-ray binaries (if a neutron star or black hole is the eater).

2. Post-Merger Objects or Thorne–Żytkow Objects

Thorne–Żytkow Objects: Hypothetical hybrid stars where a neutron star orbits inside a red giant’s envelope, eventually spiraling into the core — effectively a neutron star “eating” the giant from inside.

Mergers: When two stars collide and merge, one can be said to “eat” the other — resulting in a more massive, often unusual star.

3. Black Holes Accreting Stars

A black hole is a stellar remnant, and when it pulls a star apart (a tidal disruption event), it could figuratively be called a “star-eating star” — though technically it’s a dead stellar core eating a living star.

4. Symbiotic Stars

In astronomy, some binary systems are called “symbiotic stars,” where a hot compact star (white dwarf) and a cool giant interact — the dwarf accretes material from the giant’s stellar wind.

Artistic / Metaphorical Use

The phrase also has a poetic, almost mythological ring — bringing to mind cosmic-scale destruction and renewal, or even conceptual art / sci-fi about stars that consume others to survive or grow.

If you’re thinking of a specific scientific term:

The closest established concept is probably stellar cannibalism, often used in describing cataclysmic variables, supermassive stars formed via mergers, or black hole accretion.

Share on Google Plus

About Blog Team

This is a short description in the author block about the author. You edit it by entering text in the "Biographical Info" field in the user admin panel.