An image released on Dec. 11 illustrates "ultra-luminous X-ray sources" (ULXs) adorning the spiral galaxies NGC 2207 and IC 2163. The two galaxies, 130 million light years from Earth in the constellation Canis Major, are "grazing each other," according to Live Science.
The photo combines X-ray light (pink) from the Chandra X-ray Observatory, optical light (blue) from the Hubble Space Telescope and infrared light (red) from the Spitzer Space Telescope. Astronomers think that ULXs are either a dense stellar core circled by a star (neutron star) or a black hole, according to Live Science.
"The strong gravity of the neutron star or black hole pulls matter from the companion star," NASA officials wrote. "As this matter falls toward the neutron star or black hole, it is heated to millions of degrees and generates X-rays. The black holes in some ULXs may be heavier than stellar-mass black holes and could represent a hypothesized, but as yet unconfirmed, intermediate-mass category of black holes."
NGC2207 and IC2163 have been a little busy with this being the 28th ULXs. Through the X-ray patterns, scientists have determined that the stars are relatively "young and massive," according to NASA. The stars involved in the ULXs are probably 10 million years old, NASA estimates, while our sun is "about halfway through its 10-billion-year lifetime."
"Moreover, analysis shows that stars of various masses are forming in this galaxy pair at a rate equivalent to form 24 stars the mass of our sun per year," NASA wrote. "In comparison, a galaxy like our Milky Way is expected to spawn new stars at a rate equivalent to only about one to three new suns every year."
