Articles tagged with Neutron Stars
A neutron star spiraling into its companion star caused a unique gamma-ray burst with varying wavelengths and characteristic radii. The Helium Merger Model, developed in 1998, explained the unusual properties of the burst, which may be part of a new class of bursts.
Astronomers have discovered a local supernova factory in the Carina Nebula, which may help understand how young stars release newly-forged elements into their surroundings. The Chandra X-ray Observatory detected over 14,000 stars, six possible neutron stars, and a new population of young massive stars.
A new supercomputer simulation reveals that the collision of two neutron stars can naturally produce the magnetic structures thought to power short gamma-ray bursts. The study provides the most detailed glimpse of the forces driving some of the universe's most energetic explosions.
Researchers found a superfluid in the neutron star's core that could defy gravity and a superconductor that can sustain electricity forever. This discovery provides insight into the life cycles of stars and behavior at high densities.
Researchers have found direct evidence of a superfluid state at the core of a neutron star using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory data. This discovery has important implications for understanding nuclear interactions in matter at high densities.
Astronomers have detected the first magnetic field in a protostar jet, shedding light on the nature of cosmic jets. This finding suggests that all types of jets originate from a common process.
A new study analyzing four extremely bright gamma-ray bursts observed by NASA's Fermi satellite suggests that these events are likely powered by black holes rather than neutron stars. The analysis found that the remnant of a long-duration burst is most likely a black hole, as it cannot produce enough energy to power a magnetar.
Swift has detected over 6,000 GRBs, with a 75% share of recorded bursts, offering insights into massive star deaths and the universe's structure. The spacecraft has also monitored black holes and neutron stars for high-energy radiation and conducted long-term X-ray surveys.
The Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has detected high-energy gamma-rays from the enigmatic binary system Cygnus X-3, a genuine microquasar. The system's unique properties and strong emission across various wavelengths offer new insights into how high-energy particles are accelerated and move through jets.
Astronomers have identified the youngest neutron star ever discovered, located 11,000 light years from Earth. The star was born in a violent supernova explosion 330 years ago and features a unique carbon atmosphere just 10 centimeters thick.
The mosaic image reveals stellar evolution, bright young stars, and a supermassive black hole at the Galactic center. Giant X-ray flares from Sgr A* have occurred about 50 and 300 years earlier.
Research by Charles Horowitz at Indiana University reveals that the crusts of neutron stars are 10 billion times stronger than steel or other earth's strongest metal alloys. The findings have significant implications for understanding surface irregularities, star quakes, and magnetar giant flares.
Scientists have directly observed a gigantic star blowing up, supporting the idea that massive stars end as black holes. The explosion revealed most of the star's mass collapsed into a dense core, creating an invisible black hole.
Astronomers detect frequent X-ray and gamma-ray flares from a soft-gamma-ray repeater, a rare type of neutron star. The object has erupted with over 100 flares in 20 minutes, releasing more energy than the sun does in 20 years.
The AAS High Energy Astrophysics Division has awarded the 2009 Rossi Prize to Charles D. Bailyn, Jeffrey E. McClintock, and Ronald A. Remillard for their work on measuring black hole masses in binary pairs with companion stars.
Astronomers have discovered a mysterious celestial object emitting visible-light flashes before disappearing. It is likely to be a missing link in the family of neutron stars, exhibiting powerful magnetic activity.
Researchers at Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility found that protons are about 20 times more likely to pair up with neutrons in the nucleus. This discovery could have significant implications for understanding the structure of nuclear systems, from light nuclei to neutron stars.
Astronomers have detected a giant ring around a rare and exotic star known as a magnetar, which was likely produced by a massive flare. The discovery provides valuable insights into the phenomenon associated with magnetars, a type of neutron star with incredibly strong magnetic fields.
Astronomers have witnessed a star dying in real-time for the first time, marking a major breakthrough in understanding supernovae. The team used NASA's orbiting Swift telescope to detect an extremely luminous X-ray blast from the explosion, confirming that it was indeed a supernova.
Scientists have discovered a timing mechanism in neutron stars that allows them to predict when incredibly powerful X-ray bursts will occur, releasing energy equivalent to 100 hydrogen bombs exploding simultaneously.
Astronomers have identified the smallest known black hole, with a mass of 3.8 times that of our Sun and a diameter of just 15 miles. The black hole resides in a binary system in the Milky Way Galaxy and was measured using archival data from NASA's Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer satellite.
A giant cloud of antimatter surrounding the galactic center has been traced back to binary star systems containing black holes or neutron stars. The cloud's imbalance matches the distribution of these binaries, suggesting they are churning out most of the antimatter.
An international team, including University of Oregon scientists, suggests two possible explanations for the lack of a gravitational wave signal in February's gamma ray burst from Andromeda. The findings propose either a merger event beyond Andromeda or a soft gamma-ray repeater within Andromeda as potential origins.
Researchers have observed the properties of neutron stars, including their sizes and masses, using a new technique that exploits Einstein's general theory of relativity. The study provides insights into the extreme conditions within these ultradense objects.
Astronomers have pioneered a new technique to measure the properties of neutron stars, allowing them to study the extreme conditions under which matter is packed. Using XMM-Newton and Suzaku satellites, scientists observed distorted space-time around three neutron stars, confirming predictions by Einstein's theory of general relativity.
Astronomers have used XMM-Newton and Suzaku to measure the diameters and masses of neutron stars, confirming Einstein's predicted distortion of space-time. The technique involves observing the iron lines produced by hot atoms swirling around neutron stars.
Astronomers have identified Calvera, a bright X-ray source in Ursa Minor, as a promising candidate for an isolated neutron star, potentially the closest known. The team used NASA's Swift satellite and other telescopes to pinpoint its position and confirm its characteristics.
The discovery reveals how efficient neutron stars can be as cosmic power factories and shows they rival black holes in generating powerful jets. The X-ray jet is found to be almost as efficient as one from a black hole, with a surprising high percentage of energy converted into powering the jet.
Researchers have built a new model that suggests neutron star surfaces run hotter than previously thought, releasing 10 times more heat. This helps explain the observed frequency of superbursts on such stars' surfaces, but scientists still don't know why they occur annually.
Researchers found that under certain conditions, the surface of a strange star could fragment into blobs of quark material called strangelets, forming a rigid halo. This contradicts traditional models and raises questions about the nature of collapsed stars' nuclear leftovers.
Researchers using ESA's XMM-Newton satellite data have found an object in the heart of a 2,000-year-old supernova remnant that exhibits complex and intriguing properties. The object, called 1E161348-5055, has a cycle that repeats every 6.7 hours, which is tens of thousands of times longer than expected for a young neutron star.
Researchers have discovered the Universe's strongest magnetic field, generated by violent collisions between neutron stars. The discovery sheds light on the mysterious short Gamma-ray bursts, which are the most powerful explosions in the universe. Scientists believe that strong magnetic fields play a crucial role in their formation.
A team from MIT and Harvard found that a certain type of X-ray explosion common on neutron stars is never seen around their black hole cousins, indicating the presence of an event horizon. The absence of surface explosions called X-ray bursts suggests that gas released by nearby stars vanishes into a void.
Researchers have pinpointed a population of old neutron stars as the sources of short gamma-ray bursts, which are fainter and more difficult to localize than long bursts. The discovery sheds new light on these enigmatic cosmic explosions.
Astronomers have observed two short gamma-ray bursts and confirmed that they originate from the collision of compact objects, such as neutron stars or black holes. The events released significantly less energy than typical long gamma-ray bursts.
Astronomers find a dense whirling ball of neutrons in an extremely young star cluster, challenging the idea that nature can make black holes. The discovery shows massive stars may not collapse into black holes as predicted, but instead create neutron stars with a greater influence on future generations of stars.
The HETE-2 satellite has solved the mystery of short gamma-ray bursts, revealing colliding compact stars as their likely cause. The discovery provides significant findings, including first observations of optical afterglows and secure measurements of distance to a short burst.
A team of astrophysicists discovered X-ray oscillations in a neutron star that provide critical information about its internal structure. The oscillations, generated by massive quakes, contain frequency vibrations that can help scientists understand the nature of neutron stars.
Researchers have found tantalizing evidence that short gamma-ray bursts are caused by the collision of old, dense neutron stars. The discovery was made using data from the Swift satellite and spectroscopy from the Keck II telescope, which pinpointed a new burst near an elliptical galaxy.
The LISA mission will detect low-frequency gravitational waves from the merger of compact objects like stellar-size black holes and neutron stars. By measuring tiny changes in the motion of freely falling test masses, scientists can study these events with unprecedented precision.
Astronomers discovered a dense stellar graveyard with thousands of X-ray sources within 70 light years of the Milky Way's center. The discovery supports the idea that dynamical friction could create a massive population of stellar-mass black holes.
Researchers found stable ring-shaped magnetic field configurations in magnetic A-stars, White Dwarf stars, and neutron stars, supporting the 'fossil field' hypothesis. These fields can persist for hundreds of millions of years, surviving the star's life span.
Researchers estimate that a neutron star is about 1.8 times as massive as the sun with a radius of about 7 miles, sparking interest in its equation of state and superfluid properties. The findings rule out free quarks and provide insights into the density-pressure relationship within the star.
Astronomer Steve van Straaten discovered a binary star with a vibrational frequency of 1330 Hz, the highest ever recorded. This finding allows researchers to develop new models for movement in the vicinity of a neutron star.
Researchers at Argonne National Laboratory have made accurate measurements of waiting-point nuclei masses, confirming theories of how X-ray bursts are produced. The unique ATLAS facility enabled precise determination of the selenium-68 nucleus mass, with a precision 30 times higher than previous measurements.
Astronomers have strengthened the case for a massive black hole at the galactic center with observations of a newly discovered star. The star's high velocity and proximity to the black hole confirm its presence, ruling out alternative explanations.
Astronomers have detected X-ray radiation from the Milky Way’s center for over two decades, but the origin remained a mystery due to poor resolution. The new image reveals individual X-ray sources and hot gas, leading scientists to conclude that most high-energy radiation comes from white dwarf stars, neutron stars, and black holes.
Physicists at Brookhaven National Laboratory have produced a significant number of 'doubly strange nuclei', containing two strange quarks, to study nuclear forces and neutron stars. The discovery uses statistical techniques to infer the presence of these nuclei, which may provide insight into the properties of neutron stars.
Researchers detect first P Cygni profile in X-rays, revealing a 4.5-million-mile-per-hour wind from a compact pair of stars. The discovery provides new insights into stellar winds and their role in astrophysics.
The solar system's ultimate fate is predicted to be a collapse of the sun into a white dwarf, incinerating the Earth and inner planets in the process. However, a close encounter with a passing star may rescue life by hurling the Earth out of the solar system.
Astronomers observe regular eruptions of hot gas every 45-90 minutes, chaotic system behaving like a giant particle collider. Researchers discover new class of flares made up of synchrotron radiation and plasma bubbles.
The discovery sheds light on the formation and death of stars, revealing intricate structures such as neutron stars, black holes, and X-ray binary systems. The image provides valuable insights into the distribution of heavy atoms throughout the universe, offering a glimpse into the early history of the cosmos.
A team of astronomers has used Chandra to map the distribution of silicon, sulfur, and iron in Cassiopeia A, a supernova remnant. The findings provide insights into how elements are produced in stars and their subsequent release into space.
Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories' Z machine create temperatures rivaling the Sun's to study iron in black holes and neutron stars. The experiments help astronomers interpret images from the Chandra X-ray observatory, shedding light on the universe's evolution and eventual expiration.
A powerful numerical simulation reveals that gravitational waves from merging neutron stars can be detected by highly specialized detectors. The simulation, which included relativistic radiation reactions, showed tidal arms forming during the merger, significantly altering the dynamics and energy of the event.
An Australian-led team of astronomers has discovered a significant number of stray stars, potentially altering our understanding of the universe's composition. These findings suggest that there may be as many stars living in intergalactic space as those within galaxy clusters.
The ROSAT Guest Observer Programme was terminated after eight years of successful operations due to irreversible damage to the High Resolution Imager (HRI) caused by an accident on September 20, 1998. The final observation campaign is planned for December, with a focus on observing important astrophysical objects.
Scientists are making significant progress in discovering gamma-ray burst counterparts and afterglows, shedding light on these mysterious events. Fourteen papers are scheduled to be presented at the session, covering the electromagnetic spectrum from radio to gamma rays.
Scientists at Columbia University detected the largest explosion ever witnessed, a gamma-ray burst, which occurred 12 billion years ago. The event released almost as much energy as the 10 billion trillion stars in the universe combined and was detected using a rapid series of phone calls between astronomers around the world.
Astrophysicists have discovered rapid oscillations in neutron star brightness, which may confirm a unique effect of curved space-time predicted by Einstein's theory. The data was obtained using NASA's Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer satellite.