One of the most extreme stars in the Milky Way just got even more wack.
, representing an excellent laboratory for studying these ultra-dense stars at what we think is the brink of collapse, in the hope of better understanding the weird quantum state of the matter of which they are made.said astrophysicist Alex Filippenko"A neutron star is like one giant nucleus, but when you have one-and-a-half solar masses of this stuff, which is about 500,000 Earth masses of nuclei all clinging together, it's not at all clear how they will behave.
These cores, tending to be around 1.5 times the mass of the Sun, are among the densest objects in the Universe; the only thing denser is aTheir mass is packed into a sphere just 20 kilometers or so across; at that density, protons and electrons can combine into neutrons. The only thing keeping this ball of neutrons from collapsing into a black hole is the force it would take for them to occupy the same quantum states, described as degeneracy pressure.
PSR J0952-0607 was already one of the most interesting neutron stars in the Milky Way. It's what is known as a pulsar – a neutron star that is spinning very fast, with jets of radiation emitting from the poles. As the star spins, these poles sweep past the observer in the manner of a cosmic lighthouse so that the star appears to pulse.
A team led by astrophysicist Roger Romani of Stanford University wanted to understand better how PSR J0952-0607 fit into the timeline of this process. The binary companion star is tiny, less than 10 percent of the mass of the Sun. The research team made careful studies of the system and its orbit and used that information to obtain a new, precise measurement for the pulsar.
Malaysia Latest News, Malaysia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Scientists Are Building a 'Black Box' to Record the End of CivilizationResearchers are building a massive, indestructible box that’ll record scientific data to give future civilizations insight on how exactly humanity fell.
Read more »
Pilot takes a record-breaking flight after cancer diagnosisDave Tillema’s journey to Oshkosh was like no other. The Milwaukee native currently living in Texas flew into Oshkosh for EAA AirVenture. The route he took was unconventional:
Read more »
Record response fills Kicks for the Kids registration; donation deadline extendedREMINDER | Sunday, July 31 is the last day to donate to the Kicks for the Kids shoe giveaway. There is still a high demand for donations and any help would still be appreciated. 👟
Read more »
Record flooding in Kentucky and Appalachia kills more victims as searches continueHomes, businesses and roadways were under water after severe weather hit parts of Kentucky and into West Virginia and Virginia earlier this week, and search and rescue efforts were continuing.
Read more »
Steam Game Breaks Record Years After LaunchA PC game that fully launched on Steam nearly three years ago just broke its concurrent player [...]
Read more »
$2,245.62 a second: ExxonMobil scores enormous profit on record gas pricesExxonMobil and Chevron both reported record massive profits thanks to record gasoline prices during the quarter.
Read more »