The Scintars

The Sky at Night • Season 24 • Episode 11

About this episode

In the constellation of Aquila, the Eagle, there is a faint star known rather unromantically as SS433. Lately, however, it has proved to be very unusual. Probably the result of a tremendous stellar explosion long ago, it seems to be a star accompanied by a tiny object expelling jets of gas. This new kind of supernova remnant has been termed a scintar. Patrick Moore talks about this puzzling object to Paul Murdin , one of the astronomers who discovered it.