Find the largest neutron star

2010/12/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Astronomia

They have seen that the star is really made up of neutrons and not exotic particles, as some theories proposed.

An international team of astronomers has announced in the journal Nature that it has discovered the most massive neutron star known so far and that it is composed of neutrons. It is a 3,000 light-years pulse of the Earth and its mass is twice that of the Sun.

The discovery was made possible by the Green Bank telescope (USA) and the star has been baptized as J1614-2230. The data obtained from the measurement of radio waves emitted by the pulsar have suggested that, indeed, the star is formed by neutrons and not by exotic particles, as some theories proposed.

Neutron stars are the corpses of stars exploded as supernovae. After the explosion, the entire mass of the original star is compressed into a sphere of a few kilometers. According to standard astronomical models, these nuclei are formed by neutrons. But other theories suggested, for example, that these stars, instead of being formed by neutrons, could be formed by free quark or other exotic materials.

One way to clarify what the most appropriate theory is to calculate the mass of stars, since each model foresees different amounts of mass. And after that they have come to the conclusion that it consists of neutrons.