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Inside a Neutron Star

SPACE . www.SPACE.com COM INSIDE THE HELLISH HEART OF A NEUTRON STAR Neutron stars were first theorized in the 1930s, soon after the discovery of the neutron. In the 1960s, regular radio pulses from space were detected. Their origin was unknown, and some scientists thought these pulses might be evidence of extraterrestrial life. Later, it was discovered that the regular signals were caused by a pulsar, a type of neutron star. Inside, atoms have been condensed down into just neutrons, packed as tightly as possible. The neutrons might be further collapsed into their component quarks at the center of the star. SUPERDENSE Neutron stars pack 500,000 times. the Earth's mass into a sphere about 12.4 miles (20 kilometers) wide. A teaspoonful of its matter would weigh millions of tons. Here, a neutron star is shown to scale with Manhattan. (IMAGE: NASA) Escape velocity: one-third to one-half the speed of light NEUTRON STAR SURFACE STRUCTURE OF A NEUTRON STAR Magnetic field Thin atmosphere Hard, smooth surface -- no elevation more than 5 millimeters (0.2 inches) high Inner crust "Nuclear pasta" (rare state of matter) Outer core Inner core IMAGE: UNIVERSITY OF ALICANTE THE CORPSE OF A GIANT STAR Neutron stars form from the death throes of a red supergiant star, such as Betelgeuse (left). Betelgeuse could have up to 20 times the sun's mass and 1,200 times the sun's radius. When the star explodes, material at the core collapses, creating a neutron star (shown larger than relative size, right). The neutron star retains the original star's angular momentum, rotating much faster because it is much smaller. 2 3 BETELGEUSE PHOTO: XAVIER HAUBOIS (OBSERVATOIRE DE PARIS) ET AL. PULSAR: A FLASHING NEUTRON STAR Pulsars are spinning neutron stars that emit a narrow radiation beam. The beam is offset Torus from the pulsar's spin axis, sweeping across space like a lighthouse. As the pulsar rotates, the beam may sweep across the Earth, appearing to astronomers as a flashing object. If the beam does not point in the direction of Earth, it cannot be seen. All pulsars are neutron stars, but not all neutron stars are pulsars. X-ray Jet ABOVE: FROM EARTH, THE CRAB NEBULA PULSAR Pulsar APPEARS TO BLINK "ON" AND "OFF." RIGHT: CRAB NEBULA PULSAR IN DETAIL (PHOTOS: NASA) MAGNETAR: MAGNETIC MONSTER Magnetars are a kind of neutron star with a powerful magnetic field. The magnetic field is the strongest of any object known (as of 2010) and is powerful enough to distort the shapes of atoms. Starquakes caused by fracturing of the magnetar's surface can cause huge radiation bursts to be released, which are powerful enough to be detected on Earth, tens of thousands of light-years away. Magnetars remain active for about 10,000 years, a short time in cosmic history. After that, the magnetar has cooled off and the magnetic energy is dissipated. ARTIST'S RENDERING OF A GAMMA-RAY FLARE ERUPTING FROM MAGNETAR SGR 1806-20 (CREDIT: NASA) DANGER: COLLIDING NEUTRON STARS SIMULATION START 7.4 milliseconds 15.3 milliseconds 26.5 milliseconds BLACK HOLE I Pairs of neutron stars can create violent events if they collide. Here is a simulation of two neutron stars, each 17 miles (27 km) in diameter and having 1.5 times the mass of the sun. I At 15.3 seconds into the simulated collision, a black hole has already formed with the mass of 2.9 suns. I At 26.5 milliseconds, a jetlike magnetic field emerges at the poles of the spinning black hole. I Colliding neutron stars are predicted to produce gravitational waves, which experiments on Earth are currently searching for. SOURCES: NASA, SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN KARL TATE /© SPACE.com

Inside a Neutron Star

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Inside neutron stars, atoms have been condensed down into just neutrons, packed as tightly as possible. The neutrons might be further collapsed...

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