x-ray binary star

American  

noun

x-ray binary stars plural

1. Astronomy. a type of binary star system that produces and emits relatively large amounts of x-rays.

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x-ray binary star Scientific  

1. A binary star system that produces a significant amount of x-ray radiation. When one of the components of a binary system is an extremely dense body such as a white dwarf or a neutron star, its enormous gravitational attraction can pull material from the other star into its own orbit, causing the accelerated matter to release high-energy photons in the x-ray spectrum.

2. See more at accretion disk

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• x-ray binary stars
  plural