Are neutron stars luminous? The intrinsic brightness or luminosity is proportional to the square of the size and the fourth power of the temperature; the luminosity of a neutron star compared to the Sun is (10/7×105)2 x (106/5800)4, which is about...
What supports a neutron star? Neutron stars are very hot and are supported against further collapse by quantum degeneracy pressure due to the phenomenon described by the Pauli exclusion principle. This principle states that no two neutrons (or any other fermionic...
How did pulsar get discovered? February 1968: The Discovery of Pulsars Announced. In 1967, when Jocelyn Bell, then a graduate student in astronomy, noticed a strange “bit of scruff” in the data coming from her radio telescope, she and her advisor...
Why is it extremely rare for pulsars be spinning white dwarf stars? The difficulty in creating such a white dwarf pulsar is that, since white dwarfs don’t collapse to such a small size, they don’t “spin up” as much as they...
What causes pulsars to pulse? The magnetic axis of the pulsar determines the direction of the electromagnetic beam, with the magnetic axis not necessarily being the same as its rotational axis. This misalignment causes the beam to be seen once for...
How do neutron stars compare to white dwarfs? White dwarfs are formed from the collapse of low mass stars, less than about 10 time the mass of the Sun. This star loses most of its mass in a wind, leaving behind...
Which is larger a black hole or neutron star? Both objects are cosmological monsters, but black holes are considerably more massive than neutron stars. Is there anything bigger than a black hole? There are supermassive black holes. There are ultramassive black...
What is a black dwarf made of? When a white dwarf exhausts its own supply of carbon, oxygen and free-flowing electrons, it will slowly burn out, transforming into a black dwarf. These theorized objects made of electron degenerate matter produce little,...
How does a white dwarf differ from a neutron star quizlet? A white dwarf is an electron degenerate object, while a neutron star is a neutron degenerate object. A white dwarf has a larger radius and is much less dense than...
How can you tell the difference between a black hole and a neutron star? Neutron stars are significantly brighter than black holes even if neutron stars aren’t the most luminous due to their size. Neutron stars are virtually the densest solid...