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41 facts about neutron stars (most interesting ones)

 

 
neutron star facts

Neutron stars are one of the most interesting objects in the cosmos

Here’s a list of 41 facts about neutron star 

A Summary of these facts

Fact#1-fact#20-these facts are about the formation of neutron stars and their very interesting physical properties and they are capable of doing

Fact#21-fact#25-some facts about light-emitting neutron stars or pulsars, what they are and how they are formed  

Fact#26-fact#35-structure of neutron stars, the composition of the outer crust, inner crust, outer core, and inner core

Fact#36-fact#41-an idea about their population and some random facts

Neutron stars formation and physical properties-

 

Fact#1-

They are formed when a star of mass 10-25 times the sun’s mass dies, such stars are called supergiant stars

Fact#2-

This mass limit can go even beyond 25 if the star is metal-rich

Fact#3-

Neutron stars are the densest objects in the universe (ignoring black holes, white holes, quark stars, and strange stars, out of these 4 only blackholes are known to exist, while the other 3 are not discovered yet, bu blackholes have infinite density, so they are not considered here)

Fact#4-

They are one of the smallest objects in the universe, they have a diameter of the order of 20 kilometers

Fact#5-

Electrons and protons inside the neutron stars combine together to form neutrons, inside them

Fact#6-

Neutron degeneracy pressure prevents a neutron star from collapsing and becoming a black hole, but this pressure can support neutron stars only up to 0.7 solar masses, so repulsive nuclear forces play even a a larger role in preventing further gravitational collapse

Fact#7-

If the mass of a neutron star exceeds 2.16 solar masses, it becomes a black hole, this mass limit is called Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff limit

Fact#8-

If their mass is less than 1.4 solar masses, it can become a white dwarf, this limit is known as Chandrashekhar limit

Fact#9-

The maximum mass of a neutron star ever observed is 2.14 solar masses, but the least mass of a black hole is 5 solar masses, so between 2.14 and 5 solar masses, it is proposed that quark stars and electroweak stars can exist

Fact#10-

They can have a surface temperature from 1012  (for a newly formed star)to 106 (for an isolated and a few years old stars) kelvins

Fact#11-

They are classified into 3 types type-I, type-II, and type-III, the first type has the lowest mass and cooling rate, the second type are more massive and have a higher cooling rate, the third type have even higher mass and cooling rate and could possibly be exotic stars

Fact#12-

Their magnetic fields are 108 to 1015 times earth’s magnetic field

Fact#13-

Their gravitational field is about 2x1011 (200 billion) time the earth’s gravitational field

Fact#14-

The velocity required to escape from their surface is about 1/3 to half of the speed of light in a vacuum

Fact#15-

The fastest spinning neutron star can spin at about 25% of the speed of light in a vacuum (they spin this fast because of conservation of angular momentum)

Fact#16-

Falling from a distance of 1 meter on the surface will make the velocity 1400 km/sec before striking the surface, but before striking the the object will be spaghettified

Fact#17-

Their density varies from 109 kg/m3 on the crust to 1017 kg/m3 in the deep core

Fact#18-

It is also called as a “giant nucleus”, because its density is of the order of atomic nucleus

Fact#19-

Neutron stars having magnetic fields of the order of 108 tesla, are called magnetars, and they can even polarize the vacuum

Fact#20-

Some magnetars can even fracture their own core, this is called starquake, which is observed as millisecond burst of gamma-rays

Light-emitting neutron stars (pulsars)-

 

Fact#21-

Some of them can emit a beam of electromagnetic radiations called pulsars, which look like a lighthouse from a distance

Fact#22-

The reason for pulsars are that intense varying magnetic field creates an electric field, which accelerate electrons and protons on the surface creating electromagnetic radiations emitting from magnetic poles of the star

Fact#23-

There could be more then 2 points from where pulsar is emitted

Fact#24-

Most of the light is emitted in form of X-rays

Fact#25-

The emission of pulsars slows down a neutron star, as rotational energy is lost in the form of electromagnetic energy

Neutron star structure-

 

Fact#26-

They are similar to planets in a way, as they have an outer crust, inner crust, outer core and an inner core

Fact#27-

Its’s surface could be made up of iron, with a sea of electrons on the surface

Fact#28-

If the surface temperature exceeds 106 kelvins, the surface may become a fluid rather than a solid (which exists for surface less than 106 kelvins)

Fact#29-

These stars can even have an atmosphere, but it is only a few micrometers thick (10-6 meters) , it is controlled with star’s magnetic field

Fact#30-

Their surface is very smooth, even the largest irregularities are of the order 5 millimeters

Fact#31-

In the inner crust the number of neutrons increases and there are free electrons, nuclei, and neutrons are present

Fact#32-

Deep inside the crust protons and neutrons rearrange to form long cylinders or sheets shaped like spaghetti, this is called nuclear pasta

Fact#33-

Nuclear pasta has a very high density and it may even be the strongest substance in the universe, nearly unbreakable

Fact#34-

Beneath the nuclear pasta, the protons and neutrons are squeezed so hard that they may dissolve to form quark bath

Fact#35-

Some of the quarks in the quark bath may even transform into strange quarks, forming strange matter in the core (here are 6 of your questions on strange matter)

Neutron star stats-


Fact#36-

There are possibly over 1 billion of them in milky-way galaxy, but most of them are old and cold

Fact#37-

They can be detected with the help of pulsars, or if they are a part of a rotating binary star system

Fact38-

Slow rotating and non-accelerating ones are almost non detectable

Fact#39-

8 years on its surface area equivalent to 10 years on the earth (due to gravitational time dilation)

Fact#40-

The equation of state of a neutron star is unknown

Fact#41-

Neutron star was first observed in 1967 by Jocelyn bell

Conclusion-

There you have a list of 41 facts about neutron stars ( also see: 24 facts about red dwarfs)

Which fact was your favorite?

Do you know any other interesting facts about neutron stars?

Let me know in the comments section below


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