Neutron Stars: The Coolest Way to Die

http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/space/solar-system/neutron-stars/ 

General Information

A neutron star is often called “A Stellar Phoenix” because of its shared characteristics with a phoenix bird (http://www.space.com/22180-neutron-stars.html) . It is born only after its predecessor dies. In the case of a neutron star, the predecessor is a high mass star. When high mass stars die in supernovas, gravity forces their cores to collapse and the stars’ protons and electrons melt into each other. The combination of protons and electrons create neutrons, hence the title neutron stars.

http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/N/neutronstar.html

After neutron stars have been created, they result in being city-sized objects with a mass that is about 1.4 times the mass of the sun. Neutron stars typically have a diameter of about 20 kilometers. Despite their small size, neutron stars are extremely dense. As little as a tablespoon of a neutron star would weigh as much as Mount Everest. If you want to think on even smaller terms, as little as a teaspoon would weigh a billion tons.

                      

http://joyreactor.com/post/524916       http://www.saynotocrack.com/index.php/2006/11/24/more-nerd-humor-funny-physics-at-the-subatomic-level/ 

Since neutron stars are so compact, gravity on a neutron star is two billion times stronger than gravity on earth. Since the gravity is so strong, neutron stars can cause gravitational lensing. Gravitational lensing is when the gravitational pull created by the neutron star bends the light of another source. The bending of light can change the appearance of the light source. In the case of Neutron star, their gravitational pull is so strong that it can bend its own light, distorting its own image.  If you would like to read more about it, you can visit:  http://oneminuteastronomer.com/9237/gravitational-lens/

Neutron stars also tend to spin very quickly. The power that is given to the neutron star after the supernova explosion can cause the star to rotate up to 43,000 times per minute. The rotation speed of a neutron star gradually decreases in intensity over time.

http://www.cefns.nau.edu/geology/naml/Meteorite/Book-GlossaryX.html

If a neutron star is a part of a binary system, fascinating things can happen. To start off, one must know that a binary system is when there are two stars that are close enough for their gravitational fields to intermingle and cause them to orbit a shared barycenter. The habits of the neutron star change depending on the mass of its partner star.

If the second star is less massive than the sun: The neutron star will use its gravity to steal mass from the partnering star. The technical term for the resulting image of a neutron star being surrounded by a cloud of mass material from the the smaller star is an Roche Lobe. A Roche Lobe can be considered to have an hourglass shape as it encompasses both the partner star and the neutron star.

If the second star is up to ten times the mass of the sun: The neutron star will continue to steal mass from the partner star, just like if the star were smaller, but the transfer would not last as long.

If the second star is more than ten times the mass of the sun: Parts of the mass from the partner star will be transferred to the neutron star through stellar wind. Once transferred, the material can accumulate at the magnetic poles of the neutron star.  

There are two different types of neutron stars. There are pulsars and magnetars.

http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/science/objects/pulsars1.html

Pulsars:

A view from Earth tells us that pulsars appear to flicker. In reality, pulsars do anything but. Remember how a neutron star could gather material from a partnering star at its magnetic poles? These magnetic poles are not in line with the neutron star’s spin axis, making the poles appear to eject from opposing sides of the neutron star at an angle. Due to the high rotation speed of a pulsar and the angled position of the magnetic poles, the neutron star’s light appears to flicker when, in fact, the light is only rotating like a lighthouse. The flicking caused by the star’s rotation gives the pulsar its name because the light appears to “pulse.”

When the pulsar starts to die, the rotation speed decreases. Since the pulsar’s radiation is fueled by its rotation, the the amount of radiation emitted gradually decreases as well. When the pulsar stops spinning, it stops emitting radiation.

http://phys.org/news/2016-08-magnetars.html

Magnetars:

Even though neutron stars are predominantly composed of neutrons, protons tend to still exist, and since neutron stars are so dense, the small amount of protons can cause the neutron star to be magnetically charged. As a result neutron stars have magnetic fields. To give you an idea of the strength of the magnetic field that we are discussing, think of the Earth’s magnetic field of 1 gauss. A common neutron star has a trillion gauss magnetic field! And a common magnetar has a quadrillion gauss magnetic field! If a person were to get a little too close to a magnetar, the magnetic field could cause the person to dissolve! So, if you're ever getting bullied, don't call Magnetar, call a magnetar!

               

http://comicvine.gamespot.com/magnetar/4005-87958/  Picture of magnetar from:http://lucyconklin.com/pages/magnetar.html edited by: Tabreya Ryan

Magnetars can also cause starquakes.  Starquakes take place when the magnetar’s surface is fractured. The fracture can lead to large bursts of radiation. These bursts are so large and disruptive that we can usually detect them on Earth, at least 10,000 light years away! To make things even crazier, astronomers don’t fully understand magnetars and are still trying to conceptualize the physics behind them. Though we don’t fully understand them, we do know that magnetars return to normal neutron stars after about 10,000 years. http://www.space.com/30263-paul-sutter-on-why-magnetars-are-scary.html

Random Facts About Neutron Stars

1.Some Neutron stars have their own planets orbiting them!

2.About 1,800 pulsars have been identified through the use of radio detection and 70 have been discovered through the use of gamma rays.

If you want to learn more about neutron stars, you can check out this really cool video:

Or you can check out these websites:

http://www.space.com/30263-paul-sutter-on-why-magnetars-are-scary.html

http://www.space.com/22180-neutron-stars.html

http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/space/solar-system/neutron-stars/

http://www.astro.umd.edu/~miller/nstar.html