Latest Neutron star Stories

  An international team of astronomers has discovered an exotic planet that appears to be made of diamond orbiting a tiny star in our galaxy. The new planet, which is far denser than any other previously known, consists primarily of carbon.  However, its high density has led scientists to calculate the carbon must be crystalline, meaning a large part of the planet would effectively be diamond. "The evolutionary history and amazing density of the planet all suggest it is comprised...

In December 2010, a pair of mismatched stars in the southern constellation Crux whisked past each other at a distance closer than Venus orbits the sun. The system possesses a so-far unique blend of a hot and massive star with a compact fast-spinning pulsar. The pair's closest encounters occur every 3.4 years and each is marked by a sharp increase in gamma rays, the most extreme form of light.The unique combination of stars, the long wait between close approaches, and periods of intense...

ESA's XMM-Newton space observatory has watched a faint star flare up at X-ray wavelengths to almost 10 000 times its normal brightness. Astronomers believe the outburst was caused by the star trying to eat a giant clump of matter. The flare took place on a neutron star, the collapsed heart of a once much larger star. Now about 10 km in diameter, the neutron star is so dense that it generates a strong gravitational field.The clump of matter was much larger than the neutron star and came...

A local supernova factory has recently started production, according to a wealth of new data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory on the Carina Nebula. This discovery may help astronomers better understand how some of the Galaxy's heaviest and youngest stars race through their lives and release newly-forged elements into their surroundings.Located in the Sagittarius-Carina arm of the Milky Way a mere 7,500 light years from Earth, the Carina Nebula has long been a favorite target for...

WASHINGTON, May 11, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The famous Crab Nebula supernova remnant has erupted in an enormous flare five times more powerful than any flare previously seen from the object. On April 12, NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope first detected the outburst, which lasted six days. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) The nebula is the wreckage of an exploded star that emitted light which reached Earth in the year 1054. It is located 6,500...

Astronomers from Wales and the Netherlands, in collaboration with five schools, have used eight telescopes simultaneously to study the strange behavior of an X-ray binary star system.  Results will be presented by postgraduate student Fraser Lewis at the RAS National Astronomy Meeting in Llandudno, Wales, on Monday 18th April.IGR J00291+5934 ('00291') is a rare X-ray binary system containing a pulsar "“ a neutron star spinning several hundred times per second "“ and a normal star. Only...

WASHINGTON, April 7, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A new supercomputer simulation shows the collision of two neutron stars can naturally produce the magnetic structures thought to power the high-speed particle jets associated with short gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). The study provides the most detailed glimpse of the forces driving some of the universe's most energetic explosions. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) The state-of-the-art simulation ran for nearly seven...

A new supercomputer simulation shows the collision of two neutron stars can naturally produce the magnetic structures thought to power the high-speed particle jets associated with short gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). The study provides the most detailed glimpse of the forces driving some of the universe's most energetic explosions.The state-of-the-art simulation ran for nearly seven weeks on the Damiana computer cluster at the Albert Einstein Institute (AEI) in Potsdam, Germany. It traces events...

NASA said on Wednesday that its Chandra X-ray Observatory discovered the first direct evidence for a superfluid, a bizarre, friction-free state of matter at the core of a neutron star. According to the space agency, superfluids created in laboratories on Earth exhibit remarkable properties, such as the ability to climb upward and escape airtight containers. NASA said the finding has important implications for understanding nuclear interactions in matter at the highest known densities. Neuron...

NASA announced on Monday that its Chandra X-ray Observatory has discovered the youngest black hole known to exist in our cosmic neighborhood.  The 30-year-old black hole, known as Supernova 1979C (SN 1979C), is about 51 million light years from Earth and occurred in galaxy M-100.  Chandra has revealed a bright source of X-rays that has remained steady during observation from 1995 to 2007.  This data suggests that the object is a black hole being fed either by material falling into it...