neutronitähtede

Neutronitähtede, also known as neutron stars, are extremely dense remnants of collapsed stars. They form when massive stars, typically between 8 and 20 times the mass of our Sun, exhaust their nuclear fuel and undergo a supernova explosion. The outer layers of the star are blown away, while the core collapses under its own gravity.

This immense gravitational collapse forces protons and electrons to combine, forming neutrons. The resulting object is incredibly compact, with a radius of only about 10 to 20 kilometers, yet it can contain more mass than our Sun. A teaspoonful of neutron star material would weigh billions of tons.

Neutron stars possess incredibly strong magnetic fields, millions of times stronger than Earth's, and they rotate at astonishing speeds, sometimes hundreds of times per second. These rapid rotations and strong magnetic fields can lead to the emission of beams of electromagnetic radiation. When these beams sweep across Earth, we observe them as pulsars, characterized by their regular pulses of radio waves or other radiation.

Not all supernova cores result in neutron stars; more massive stars can collapse further to form black holes. Neutron stars are therefore a fascinating bridge between ordinary stellar remnants and the extreme physics of black holes, offering valuable insights into the behavior of matter under extreme conditions and the evolution of stars.