A Quick Look at an Ultraluminous X-ray Source (ULX) in M51
(Credit: NASA/CXC/A. Hobart)
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Astronomers have used Chandra data to determine that an ultraluminous X-ray source (ULX) contains a neutron star.
This ULX is located in M51, which is also known as the Whirlpool galaxy, located about 30 million light years from Earth.
ULXs are extremely bright sources of X-rays, first discovered by astronomers in the 1980s.
This new result helps provide clues as to how ULXs shine so brightly in X-rays.