Halloween Treat: NASA Spotted Pumpkin Stars In Space (Video)

NASA's Kepler and Swift spotted a batch of rapidly spinning stars that looked like they are squashed into pumpkin-like shapes. They are spinning rapidly and generate X-rays at over 100 times the peak levels ever seen from the sun.

.@NASA discovered “pumpkin stars” just in time for Halloween https://t.co/9pKUSV77j0 pic.twitter.com/NLhjn5OEwl

— HelloGiggles.com (@hellogiggles) October 28, 2016

The discovery was described in the Astrophysical Journal. It indicates that they found 18 newly stars that emit at least 100 times more X-rays than the Sun during its solar maximum. The teams also discussed their properties, according to IFL Science.

Rapidly Spinning '#Pumpkin' Stars Observed By @NASA Missions https://t.co/49ie5D0eRe pic.twitter.com/tWwyHWSBiS — SPACE.com (@SPACEdotcom) October 29, 2016

Steve Howell, a senior research scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field in California explained that these 18 stars rotate in just a few days on average, while the sun takes nearly a month. He further said that the rapid rotation amplifies the same kind of activity they see on the sun, such as sunspots and solar flares, and essentially sends it into overdrive.

A Passel of 'Pumpkin' Stars https://t.co/zGJ7jKH0jw pic.twitter.com/PJA4O6wlxG

— ScienceDaily (@ScienceDaily) October 28, 2016

NASA reports that the most extreme member of the group is the K-type orange giant known as KSw 71. This is more than 10 times larger than the sun and rotates in just 5.5 days. It generates X-ray emission 4,000 times greater than the sun does at solar maximum.

The astronomers used the Swift, which is the gamma-ray and X-ray observatory of NASA, on the Kepler field to detect the stars. Meanwhile, The Kepler telescope gauged the luminosity of more than 150,000 stars and the area has also been observed in infrared and UV.

Elena Mason, a co-author of the study and a researcher at the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics Astronomical Observatory of Trieste said that Webbink's model indicates they should find about 160 of these stars in the entire Kepler field. She further said that what they have found is in line with theoretical expectations when they account for the small portion of the field they observed with Swift.