A star can survive a supernova and remain locked in a tight orbit with its companion, forming a rare spider binary system.
April 23, 2026
Original Paper
A newly born spider system at the core of a radio shell: Evidence for a low-energy supernova
arXiv · 2604.16882
The Takeaway
Spider systems are pulsar binaries where one star slowly devours its partner. This new discovery captures one of these systems at its very birth inside a shell of radio waves. The progenitor star underwent a low-energy supernova that was just weak enough to keep the two stars from flying apart. Most supernovae are violent enough to destroy binary bonds or kick the stars into deep space. This rare survivor provides a direct map of how these exotic, flesh-eating star systems evolve. Finding more of these could explain how the densest objects in the universe are formed in the wake of stellar death.
From the abstract
In a search for low surface brightness radio nebulae using the ASKAP-EMU survey, we discovered a faint radio shell, G289.6+5.8, and its central point radio source at the position of the soft gamma-ray source IGR J11187-5438. The central radio source is spatially coincident with a previously known low-mass X-ray binary (LMXB) with an M-type donor star. However, the newly determined Gaia DR3 distance of 267 pc and correspondingly low X-ray luminosity (3 x 10e31 erg/s) cast doubt on the LMXB classi