Astronomers have recently discovered a new type of stellar object, an intermediate polar called TX Columbae. This exciting finding has implications for our understanding of stellar evolution and the way these objects interact with their environment.

TX Columbae is located in the constellation Columba, and is believed to be the first intermediate polar ever identified outside of our Milky Way. It is a binary system composed of a white dwarf and a low-mass companion star, which are orbiting each other every 4.3 hours. The white dwarf is also spinning around its axis at a rate of 6.5 seconds, which is much slower than the typical spin rate of a regular polar.

This unique combination of properties has allowed astronomers to classify TX Columbae as an intermediate polar, a type of binary star system which is believed to produce X-ray emissions due to the interaction between the two stars. The discovery of TX Columbae suggests that this type of object is more common than previously thought, and could have implications for our understanding of stellar evolution.

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source: Phys.org