Cosmic Fireworks May be Arriving in 2018 with Colossal Collision (VIDEO)

First Posted: Jul 03, 2015 07:36 AM EDT

High-energy fireworks could be coming in 2018. Astronomers predict that a stellar remnant the size of a city may meet one of the brightest stars in our galaxy, creating a cosmic light show that will occur when a pulsar swings by its companion star.

The pulsar is known as J2032+4127 (J2032 for short), and is the crushed core of a massive star that exploded as a supernova. It's a magnetized ball that's about 12 miles across, or about the size of Washington, weighing in at almost twice the sun's mass and spinning seven times a second. This rapid spin and its strong magnetic field produce a beam that's detectable when it sweeps our way. This pulsar, though, has some interesting features.

"We detected strange variations in the rotation and the rate at which the rotation slows down, behavior we have not seen in any other isolated pulsar," said Andrew Lyne, one of the researchers, in a news release. "Ultimately, we realized these peculiarities were caused by motion around another star, making this the longest-period binary system containing a radio pulsar."

The massive star tugging on the pulsar is actually named MT91 213. It's classified as a Be star, which drive strong outflows, cause stellar winds and are embedded in large disks of gas and dust.

Following an elongated orbit lasting 25 years, the pulsar passes close to its partner once each circuit. In early 2018, though, the pulsar will plunge through the surrounding dusty disk and trigger astrophysical fireworks. This, in turn, will serve as a probe to help astronomers measure the massive star's gravity, magnetic field, stellar wind and disk properties.

"This forewarning of the energetic fireworks expected at closest approach in three years' time allow us to prepare to study the system across the entire electromagnetic spectrum with the largest telescopes," said Ben Stappers, one of the researchers.

The findings are published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.