Neutron Star

Neutron Star

NASA Fermi LAT pulsar gamma ray sky
An enormous amount of antimatter is coming from our galactic center. But the culprit probably isn't dark matter, but merely neutron stars.
hypermassive neutron star
Neutrons can be stable when bound into an atomic nucleus, but free neutrons decay away in mere minutes. So how are neutron stars stable?
SN 1987a JWST
In 1987, the closest supernova directly observed in nearly 400 years occurred. Will a pulsar arise from those ashes? JWST offers clues.
albert einstein j robert oppenheimer 1947
Even with the quantum rules governing the Universe, there are limits to what matter can withstand. Beyond that, black holes are unavoidable.
An artist's rendering of a neutron star in space.
Ultracold gases in the lab could help scientists better understand the universe.
map with 68 millisecond pulsars
After 15 years of monitoring 68 objects known as millisecond pulsars, we've found the Universe's background gravitational wave signal!
epsilon eridani comet storm
Massive objects like black holes, stars, and rogue planets routinely pass near our Solar System. An ensuing comet storm could destroy us.
Betelgeuse visualization
A new, unexpected brightening, just 3 years after a massive dimming event, has astronomers watching Betelgeuse. Is a supernova imminent?
Hubble view of galaxy containing GRB 221009A BOAT
Gamma-ray bursts are among the most energetic cosmic events of all. On October 9, 2022, a remarkable one occurred: the brightest ever seen.
a star burst in the middle of the night sky.
We are about to learn a lot more about the most elusive of cosmic particles.
WR 124 JWST composite
This beautiful JWST image of Wolf-Rayet star WR 124 has been called a "prelude to a supernova" by NASA. That might be entirely wrong.
crab pulsar remnant
We can't go back to the Big Bang, nor ahead to the heat death of the Universe. Nevertheless, here are today's natural temperature extremes.
hypermassive neutron star
Somewhere out there in the Universe is the heaviest neutron star, and elsewhere lies the lightest black hole. Where's the line between them?
Nothing in this Universe is eternal — not even the stars.
In just a few seconds, a gamma-ray burst blasts out the same amount of energy that the Sun will radiate throughout its entire life.
gaia black hole
The ESA's Gaia mission just broke the record for closest black hole by over 1,000 light-years. Is there an even closer one out there?
central black hole jet
Black holes aren't just the densest masses in the Universe, but they also spin the fastest of all massive objects. Here's why it must be so.
If your computer crashes, it might be due to a star that exploded somewhere in the Universe millions of years ago.
wolf rayet wr 31a
At their cores, stars can reach many millions or even billions of degrees. But even that doesn't touch the hottest of all.
jwst
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will study many dangerous cosmic phenomena, knowledge of which may help save humanity.
"The pulsar sort of consumes the thing that recycled it, just as the spider eats its mate.”
planetary nebula
Everything that gets heated up has to, somehow, radiate that energy away. Here's what we see when that happens in the Universe.
supernova X-ray
The first supernova ever discovered through its X-rays has an enormously powerful engine at its core. It's unlike anything ever seen.
Some stars burn through their fuel as expected, and die of natural causes. But others, instead, get murdered. Here's their story.
nasa merge black hole
The latest gravitational wave data from LIGO and Virgo finally shows us the truth: there are no "gaps" in the masses of black holes.
The ‘final parsec problem’ is still a mystery for astronomers. When it comes to black holes in the Universe, we know there are at least two major types. There are […]
If you go young, blue, and massive, you top out at 50,000 K. That’s peanuts! Surprise! The biggest, most massive stars aren’t always the hottest. Although its neighbor, Messier 42, […]
Do they have real, observable effects, or are they merely calculational tools?
At just 3 solar masses, it eliminates the “mass gap.” Searching for black holes is one of the most difficult astronomical games a scientist can play. Emitting no light of their […]
The densest objects that haven’t collapsed to black holes can tell us information about the Universe unlike anything else. Swarming through our own galaxy, we’ve detected quite a few bizarre objects: […]