• Question: what is a nuetron star

    Asked by aaron to Chris, Joanne, Kathryn, Sarah on 15 Nov 2017.
    • Photo: Chris Werner

      Chris Werner answered on 15 Nov 2017:

      Great question Aaron. A neutron star is very similar to a black hole in terms of its formation, from a supernova explosion, main difference is that you can see it and it’s gravitational force isn’t as strong, and isn’t as heavy. The maximum mass of a neutron star is 3 times that of our sun, but squashed into about 10km diameter. The stars that form them generally are 10-29 times heavier than the Sun, any heavier and they become black holes.

      The gravitational pull is still unbelievably strong though, as if you stood on a chair on a neutron star and jumped off it towards the surface, you’d be travelling millions of km/hr by the time you hit the ground. A whole teaspoon weighs over a billion tonnes.

      If a neutron star entered the solar system is would cause chaos similar to that of a black hole. Neutron stars are usually hundreds of thousands of degrees celsius and can also be known as pulsars, when they give out pulse radio waves

    • Photo: Sarah Guerin

      Sarah Guerin answered on 16 Nov 2017:

      Hi Aaron, Chris has most of the details covered- Neutron stars are formed when medium sized stars burn out over billions of years. This makes a dense, extremely hot iron core, which then spits out loads of radiation and particles called neutrinos. The supernova explosion then happens and a neutron star is what remains. Scientists think neutron stars have four layers- two crust layers and two core layers. Neutron stars also spin extremely fast, and are super because of this. Scientists currently know of about 2000 neutron stars in the Milky Way!

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