NASA's space-based Chandra X-ray Observatory has watched a "clutter" of spider pulsars devouring their companion stars in the globular cluster Omega Centauri. This data could help scientists better understand how such rapidly spinning neutron stars, named after the arachnids that devour their mates, erode surrounding stars with intense beams of radiation.
The five spider pulsars in this clutter — clutter being the name given to a closely grouped gathering of spiders — were found concentrated at the heart of Omega Centauri, a huge grouping of about 10 million stars located 17,700 light-years from Earth. They were originally uncovered by scientists using the Parkes and MeerKAT radio telescopes who identified a collection of 18 total rapidly spinning neutron stars or "millisecond pulsars."
