NEUTRON STARS

 

Neutron stars are incredibly small yet incredibly dense celestial objects. Here are some key facts about their size and what is on their surfaces:

• A typical neutron star is between 10 to 20 kilometers in diameter, making them about the size of a large city. That is tiny on an astronomical scale - Earth has a diameter of almost 13,000 kilometers, so a neutron star is at least several hundred times smaller than our planet.

• Despite their small size, neutron stars can have a massive 1.5 to 2 times the mass of our Sun squeezed into that tiny volume. This creates unbelievable densities within the star, far higher than what is possible for normal atoms.

• The surface of a neutron star is essentially one giant nucleus of fused neutrons. As the name suggests, the atoms within have been crushed together so that their neutrons combine to form this "nuclear matter."

• Extremely strong magnetic and gravitational fields emanate from the surface of a neutron star, warping the spacetime around it. Any normal matter that ventured too close would be instantly crushed and distorted by these fierce forces.

• Because of their small size, density and powerful fields, neutron stars spin very rapidly - some rotate hundreds of times per second! This rapid spin generates beams of radiation that astronomers detect as pulsars.