# NASA’s Fermi Finds Record-breaking Binary Star 38aw4HMjlag

Using data from NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope and other facilities, scientists have found the first gamma-ray binary in another galaxy and the most luminous one ever seen. The dual-star system, dubbed LMC P3, contains a massive star and a crushed stellar core that interact to produce a cyclic flood of gamma rays, the highest-energy form of light.

Gamma-ray binaries are rare -- only six are known in our own galaxy, and one remains undetected by Fermi. The systems are prized because their gamma-ray output changes significantly during each orbit and sometimes over longer time scales. This variation lets astronomers study many of the emission processes common to other gamma-ray sources in unique detail.

The systems contain either a neutron star or a black hole and radiate most of their energy in the form of gamma rays. Remarkably, LMC P3 is the most luminous such system known in gamma rays, X-rays, radio waves and visible light, and it's only the second one discovered with Fermi.

LMC P3 lies within a supernova remnant located in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a small nearby galaxy about 163,000 light-years away. In 2012, scientists using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory found a strong X-ray source within the remnant and showed that it was orbiting a hot, young star many times the sun's mass. The researchers concluded the compact object was either a neutron star or a black hole and classified the system as a high-mass X-ray binary (HMXB).

In 2015, a team led by…

- Kind: Short
- Year: 2016
- Runtime: 1 min
- By: NASA Goddard
- Genres: Space
- Archive: [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NASA%E2%80%99s_Fermi_Finds_Record-breaking_Binary_Star_38aw4HMjlag.webm)
- Licence or status: Public domain (as the archive states it)
- Credit: NASA Goddard
- Who can watch: Tweens profiles and older (the archive gives no rating; placed by Invisible Network from its collection and subjects)

[Watch now](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/watch/archive/commons/96290919?play=1)