Introductory Level Article on this topic. If your eyes could see X-rays rather than optical light , you would see a very different and unusual sight when you looked up at the sky. You would be overwhelmed by a few hundred very bright stars , mostly concentrated towards the center of our Galaxy . Most of these stars would in fact be X-ray binaries, where a black hole or neutron star is devouring material from its companion star. A basic quest of science is to test the laws of physics under all conditions.
Unexpected discoveries can lead to breakthroughs in our understanding of the laws of nature.
X-ray observations of neutron stars and black holes provide a unique probe into how the Universe operates under extreme physical conditions. Show me a printable version of this page. Please let us know .