Latest Neutron Stories

ESA's orbiting gamma-ray observatory, Integral, has made a pioneering unequivocal discovery of radioactive iron-60 in our galaxy that provides powerful insight into the workings of massive stars that pervade and shape it.Found drifting in space, the radioactive isotope has been sought for long. All past reported sightings of iron-60 have been subject to controversy. Now Integral has provided unequivocal evidence. Since late 2002, Integral has been collecting data from across the galaxy. It...

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- A new theoretical thermometer built from heavy-duty mathematics and computer code suggests that the surfaces of certain neutron stars run significantly hotter than previously expected. Hot enough, in fact, to at least partially answer an open question in astrophysics -- how to explain the observed frequency of ultra-violent explosions known as superbursts that sometimes ignite on such stars' surfaces?"This is the first model that goes into some reasonable detail...

Using data from ESA's XMM-Newton X-ray observatory, an international group of astrophysicists discovered that one spinning neutron star doesn't appear to be the stable rotator scientists would expect. These X-ray observations promise to give new insights into the thermal evolution and finally the interior structure of neutron stars.Spinning neutron stars, also known as pulsars, are generally known to be highly stable rotators. Thanks to their periodic signals, emitted either in the radio or...

(RedOrbit) Scientists from The University of Exeter and the International University, Bremen, Germany have discovered what may be the strongest magnetic field in the Universe. The scientists have shown that this field, which is 1000 million million times larger than the Earth's magnetic field, is created by violent collisions between neutron stars in the outer reaches of space. Neutron stars are the collapsed core of a massive star remaining after a supernova explosion. When two neutron stars...

The first computer simulation to model the collision of two magnetised neutron stars shows that the impact generates the strongest magnetic fields known in the Universe.  The gigantic fields are more than a thousand million million times stronger than the magnetic field of the Earth and are thought to launch the violent gamma-ray burst explosions.Neutron stars have masses comparable to that of our Sun, but a radius of only 10 km, so they are even denser than atomic nuclei.  Neutron...

NASA -- Scientists using NASA's Swift satellite have found evidence of a black hole swallowing a neutron star. The discovery is reported in the December 15 issue of Nature. This rare event, seen on July 24, created a gamma-ray burst that lasted only for a few milliseconds. However, observations of the lingering afterglow provided evidence of what could have been the demise of a neutron star orbiting a black hole. The black hole may have first stretched the dense neutron star into a crescent...

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- For University of Missouri tailgaters, the name of the new parking lot down the hill from Memorial Stadium is little more than a curiosity: Reactor Field, a nod to the nearby nuclear research reactor. The nation's largest university-based reactor keeps an intentionally low local profile, despite its cutting-edge research into promising cancer drugs. But among regulators and nuclear energy watchdogs, it has a troubling distinction: The reactor is one of only two university...

A "designer material" derived from plastic could help protect astronauts on their way to MarsNASA -- After reading this article, you might never look at trash bags the same way again.We all use plastic trash bags; they're so common that we hardly give them a second thought. So who would have guessed that a lowly trash bag might hold the key to sending humans to Mars?Most household trash bags are made of a polymer called polyethylene. Variants of that molecule turn out to be...

OAK RIDGE, Tenn., Aug. 19, 2005 "” The Spallation Neutron Source at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory has met a crucial milestone on its way to completion in June 2006 -- operation of the superconducting section of its linear accelerator. The SNS linac has two sections: a room-temperature, or warm, section, which completed its commissioning last January, and a superconducting, or cold, section, which operates at temperatures hundreds of degrees below zero. The cold...

Astrobiology Magazine -- Astrobiologists, who search for evidence of life on other planets, may find a proposed Neutron/Gamma ray Geologic Tomography (NUGGET) instrument to be one of the most useful tools in their toolbelt.As conceived by scientists at the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) in Greenbelt, Md., NUGGET would be able to generate three-dimensional images of fossils embedded in an outcrop of rock or beneath the soil of Mars or another planet. Tomography uses radiation or sound...