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Central neutron star at the heart of the Crab Nebula. Radiation from the rapidly spinning pulsar PSR B1509-58 makes nearby gas emit X-rays (gold) and illuminates the rest of the nebula, here seen in infrared (blue and red). A neutron star is a collapsed core of a massive supergiant star.
- How Do Neutron Stars form?
- Why Form A Neutron Star and Not A Black Hole?
- Will The Sun Become A Neutron Star (or A Black hole)?
- The Size and Mass of Neutron Stars
- Types of Neutron Stars: Blazars and Magnetars
- What Happens When Two Neutron Stars Collide?
- Neutron Star FAQs Answered by Expert
The life of a star, no matter its size, is a balancing act between the inward "push" of gravity and the outward push provided by photons generated as they conduct nuclear fusion, the forging of heavy atomic nuclei from light nuclei, at their cores. When stars run out of hydrogen to fuse into helium, they reach the end of their main sequenceof nucle...
If this process of neutron star birth sounds familiar, that could be because it is also the path that a massive star takes to become a black hole. The question is, why do some stars birth neutron stars while others leave behind black holes? The key difference seems to be the collapsing stellar core possessing enough mass to exceed the protection th...
While the line between neutron stars and black holes is vague and poorly defined, the line between the stellar remnant that our sun will become, a white dwarf and a neutron star is much better understood. When the sun reaches the end of its hydrogen supply in around 5 billion years, and the outward pressure protecting against gravitational collapse...
To consider how dramatic and violent the near-complete gravitational collapse that births a neutron star is, one only has to look at the material that it creates and the dimensions of the object it comprises. The collapse of massive stellar cores results in an object that has from one to two times the mass of the sun, but only has a width of betwee...
When neutron stars are born, the conservation of angular moment results in them spinning at incredibly rapid speeds. To consider why this is the case think of an ice skater in a spin. As they draw their arms in, the skater's rotational speed increases. A similar thing happens when the diameter of a stellar core shrinks as it undergoes gravitational...
Neutron stars can exist in isolation, only detectable by their surface temperature, or they can dwell in partnerships with "ordinary" stars, often siphoning off their material, or in some cases, they can exist in binary systems with another neutron star. In these circumstances,according to Einstein's theory of general relativity, as these binary ne...
We asked Genevieve Schroeder, an Astronomy Ph.D. student at Northwestern University and part of the Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics (CIERA), who studies some of the most powerful and violent events in the cosmos, some frequently asked questions about neutron stars.
Jun 27, 2024 · neutron star, any of a class of extremely dense, compact stars thought to be composed primarily of neutrons. Neutron stars are typically about 20 km (12 miles) in diameter. Their masses range between 1.18 and 1.97 times that of the Sun, but most are 1.35 times that of the Sun.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Dec 27, 2023 · Neutron stars are the densest and fastest stars in the universe, created when massive stars collapse. Learn how they form, what they are made of, and why they are so important for astrophysics.
Mar 28, 2023 · Learn about the bizarre and superdense objects that are the cores of exploded stars. Find out how they are formed, what properties they have, and how we detect them as pulsars.
Learn about neutron stars, the smallest and densest stars in the universe, from NASA's official website. Explore the latest news, articles and multimedia about these mysterious objects and their origins.
Sep 23, 2021 · Learn about neutron stars, the densest objects in the universe, formed when massive stars collapse. Find out how they can be observed as pulsars or magnetars, and how they emit radiation and explosions.
