First Science With SALT
The first scientific paper using SALT data was published in the "Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society" journal in August 2006 authored by Dr D. O'Donoghue of the South African Astronomical Observatory and collaborators.
The paper contains the results from Dr O'Donoghue's study study of a Polar binary system. This is a system of two stars in orbit around each other, one of which is a compact star called a 'white dwarf' – a star which has used up its original store of nuclear energy, then shrunk to about one millionth of the volume of a star like our Sun. In a polar this 'white dwarf' also has a very strong magnetic field. The other star is a relatively ordinary companion, however, because the stars are so close together the intense gravitational force from the compact star rips off the gas from the outer atmosphere of the companion star which then spirals in towards the compact star. Additionally, the intense magnetic fields strongly influence how the hot gases from the companion reach the white dwarf surface.
Polars are the most readily accessible objects we know for studying gas accretion in strong magnetic fields, and are among the closest orbiting pairs of stars we know: both stars and their orbits would fit inside the Sun!
Further details of the study, including the original SALT press release can be found at the links below.
Last updated: 02 Sep 2010
