Using the AstroSat spacecraft, Indian astronomers have observed a soft X-ray transient known as MAXI J0637−430. Results of the study, published February 18 on the arXiv pre-print repository, deliver essential information regarding spectral properties of this source, what could help us unveil its true nature.
X-ray binaries are composed of a normal star or a white dwarf transferring mass onto a compact neutron star or a black hole. Based on the mass of the companion star, astronomers divide them into low-mass X-ray binaries and high-mass X-ray binaries .
Observations show that SXTs experience dramatic changes in their X-ray emission, probably produced by variable transfer of mass from the normal star to the compact object. In many cases they are observed to showcase strong soft X-ray emission from an accretion disk close to the compact object. SXTs also occasionally undergo sporadic outbursts, which occur at intervals of one to sixty years. During these outbursts they are the brightest X-ray sources in the sky.
Therefore, a group of astronomers led by Neal Titus Thomas of CHRIST in Bengaluru, India, employed AstroSat's Soft X-ray Telescope and Large Area X-ray Proportional Counter instruments in order to shed more light on the spectral properties and nature of MAXI J0637−430.
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