The Exotic World of Neutron Stars

Neutron stars are created when a massive star runs out of fuel and collapses. As the star collapses, the density becomes so immense that protons and electrons are squeezed tightly together to form neutrons. The end result is a star only 20 km across but weighing 1 1/2 times more than our sun and made up mostly of neutrons.

http://chandra.harvard.edu/resources/podcasts/podcasts.xml

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutron_star

A neutron star is formed from the collapsed remnant of a massive star; i.e. a Type II, Type Ib, or Type Ic supernova. Models predict that neutron stars consist mostly of neutrons, hence the name. Such stars are very hot, as supported by the Pauli exclusion principle indicating repulsion between neutrons. A neutron star is one of the few possible conclusions of stellar evolution.

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[weirdscience81]

@EricNyhmfan If a peice would fly away the gravity of the neutron star would just smack in right back into it again. I dont even think you can make a neutron star shatter into peices even if two neutron stars collided with each other. It would make a spektacular astronomical show. But in the end they would just fuse into one neutron star. Think about this. A bit heavier and the neutron star would have become a black hole. And we know not even light can escape that.......

[weirdscience81]

If you belive in a perfect Universe you cant but helpt to think what these neutron stars might have for function? Yes they were enormously important as Stars but maybe they even play a key role in the Universe as a neutron stars? Maybe theyre not just corpses in the Universe? Makes you think... pardon my english...im from sweden.....:)

[EricNyhmfan]

@drizztman101 To bad we would be sucked into it and crushed into neutronium or whatever its called.

[EricNyhmfan]

That would suck if a neutron star had a starquake so great that a piece of it flew off (1 meter wide) and then had just enough gravity to make itself into a ball then floated off toward our solar system then crashed into earth ....or would earth crash into it?

[deadanimalcorpse]

Lol imagine that you are carrying a 1 kg weighting thing on your hands in earth.

If you were in neutron star it would weight about 14000000000 kg.

Not joking.

[AnimeFanatic5602]

Every centimeter cubed weighs about 100,000 tons. Imagine a six mile wide solid ball of that spinning thousands, if not millions, of times every second. The true wonder of the universe is beyond even the wildest imaginings of the human mind.

[TimpBizkit]

Yeah, the sun isn't heavy enough for its own gravity to squish it down that small. White dwarf stars are fairly dense too, but neutron stars are in a different league entirely.

As the star shrinks, the force squashing it gets stronger and stronger (as gravity is acting over a smaller radius), and if the star starts off heavy enough, the force can squish it all the way to nothing. That's how a black hole is formed.

[TimpBizkit]

2*10^30kg

[TimpBizkit]

It would be a terrifying experience to bring one of those close to earth and watch from space the earth's crust rips away from from its surface and onto this tiny dense hard ball weighing 500,000 times as much! It's hard to imagine a 12 mile wide ball that makes the moon look enormous, but heavy enough to alter the orbit of the sun!

[TimpBizkit]

Gravity 100 billion times stronger than earth, so you could be flying along in your space ship and.

"Ooh look, I see a neutron star"

"Where? AAAAAAHHH SHIIII" - SPLAT!! -