Chandra Release - September 26, 2013

Visual Description: IGR J18245-2452

The two-panel image shows the binary system IGR J18245-24. Each X-ray image is shown in dark blue peaked to white on a black background and has a small arc of bright spots towards the top and a few scattered throughout the frame. They resemble a lit up parachuter coming down to land at night.  These two images are both from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and show a large change in X-ray brightness of a rapidly rotating neutron star, or pulsar, in the system between 2006 and 2013. The neutron star – that is, the extremely dense remnant left behind by a supernova – is in a tight orbit around a low mass star. This binary star system, IGR J18245-2452 is at twelve o’clock, and is a member of the globular cluster M28.