What are Neutron Stars
Neutron stars are not true stars. They are very small, about the size of a city, but with the mass of a true star. Because stars spin, conservation of energy means that neutron stars formed will spin. And because the size decreases, they spin very fast. Inside, the pressure is so high that the star esentualy becomes a big atom. Click here to learn more about what a neutron star is comprised of.
How Does a Neutron Star Form
They are formed when a star almost big enough to form a black hole collapwses. As the outer layers shed of, the center of the star impldes with such force as to sqish something larger that an earth to smething about as large as a small city. Click here to learn more about how a neutron star forms.
Did You Know?
- When 2 or more nuetron stars orbit each other, their orbits decay due to energy being released as gravitational waves. This can cause them to crash ino each other in a killinova. These events are thought to be the creation of most of the heavier elements.
- Pulsars are the most common form of neutron stars. Pulsars eject beams of radiation from ther magnetic poles, and since the magnetic poles dont have to alighed with the spin, the stars often sweep ther beams of radiation, like a lighthouse. prom our prespective, these look like pulses as it passes over the earth.
NASA/JPL-Caltech, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
