Neutron Stars - The Weirdest Stars of the Universe

Artist's conception of a planet orbiting a distant Neutron Star

Neutron Stars are some of the most interesting objects in the universe. These are stars that have finished their main stage life, have undergone a supernova, and now the collapsed core is the only thing that remains. Since there is no fusion, the core can't support its own weight(that's a very interesting concept to imagine - something not be able to support its own weight) and so, collapses under its own weight to form a dense, typically only a 10km radius object called a Neutron Star. 

But that radius of 10km is deceiving

A Neutron Star can have a mass that is 2-3 times as high as the Sun. 

That is just an INSANE amount of matter packed into the size of a small city.

This kind of density gives it some very interesting properties. 

One thing about the Neutron Star is that it spins fast. Really fast. The fastest spinning Neutron Stars spin at 43000 revolutions per minute. 

Imagine that on Earth. Now imagine the plight of those with epilepsy.... Yeah.

Also, that rotational speed translates to a linear speed, on the surface of 25% of the speed of light

I wonder what kind of time dilation one would see on the surface of a Neutron Star. I think it would be even more extreme than say, in the movie Interstellar.

A Neutron Star making the rest of the Nebula glow in x-rays. (This image was taken in infrared)

The sheer density of the Neutron Star itself is extremely interesting. A single teaspoon of matter scooped out of a Neutron Star would be 900 times as heavy as the Great Pyramids of Giza. At that kind of density, the normal laws of physics break down, and we have no idea of knowing how that matter would react with other, "normal" matter. Of course, you don't want to be anywhere near that particular teaspoon of matter...

Even how a Neutron Star looks is, related to its extreme density and mass. A Neutron Star has such an insanely powerful gravitational field that light itself bends around the star, and so, it's possible to see more than 50% of the surface of the star from any angle.

Gamma rays pulses from a pulsar(converted to the visible spectrum) 

Pulsars are also, a type of Neutron Stars. They are Neutron Stars that emit big pulses of EM waves. The pulses of EM waves that they generate are very, very high energy, and if one were close to us and fired straight at us, it would pull out Earth's ozone layer(and probably, quite a bit of the atmosphere) very quickly.

So, in conclusion, Neutron Stars are some of the most fascinating, yet some of the most scary things in the Universe. I certainly wouldn't want to go near one, but I definitely can't stop imagining about them.

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@harshallele

Sources:

http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA08042

http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/pia18848-wisefacepalm.jpg

Cycle_of_pulsed_gamma_rays_from_the_Vela_pulsar_220px.gif