Neutron stars are ancient remnants of stars that have reached the end of their evolutionary journey through space and time.
These
interesting objects are born from once-large stars that grew to four to
eight times the size of our own sun before exploding in catastrophic
supernovae. After such an explosion blows a star's outer layers into
space, the core remains—but it no longer produces nuclear fusion. With
no outward pressure from fusion to counterbalance gravity's inward pull,
the star condenses and collapses in upon itself.
Despite their small diameters—about 12.5 miles (20 kilometers)—neutron stars boast nearly 1.5 times the mass of our sun, and are thus incredibly dense.
Just a sugar cube of neutron star matter would weigh about one hundred million tons on Earth.
A neutron star's almost incomprehensible density causes protons and electrons to combine into neutrons—the process that gives such stars their name. The composition of their cores is unknown, but they may consist of a neutron superfluid or some unknown state of matter.
Neutron stars pack an extremely strong gravitational pull, much greater than Earth's. This gravitational strength is particularly impressive because of the stars' small size.
When they are formed, neutron stars rotate in space. As they compress and shrink, this spinning speeds up because of the conservation of angular momentum—the same principle that causes a spinning skater to speed up when she pulls in her arms.
These
interesting objects are born from once-large stars that grew to four to
eight times the size of our own sun before exploding in catastrophic
supernovae. After such an explosion blows a star's outer layers into
space, the core remains—but it no longer produces nuclear fusion. With
no outward pressure from fusion to counterbalance gravity's inward pull,
the star condenses and collapses in upon itself.Despite their small diameters—about 12.5 miles (20 kilometers)—neutron stars boast nearly 1.5 times the mass of our sun, and are thus incredibly dense.
Just a sugar cube of neutron star matter would weigh about one hundred million tons on Earth.
A neutron star's almost incomprehensible density causes protons and electrons to combine into neutrons—the process that gives such stars their name. The composition of their cores is unknown, but they may consist of a neutron superfluid or some unknown state of matter.
Neutron stars pack an extremely strong gravitational pull, much greater than Earth's. This gravitational strength is particularly impressive because of the stars' small size.
When they are formed, neutron stars rotate in space. As they compress and shrink, this spinning speeds up because of the conservation of angular momentum—the same principle that causes a spinning skater to speed up when she pulls in her arms.
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