Neutron Stars and Dwarf Stars What is a Neutron Star?

Neutron stars are superdense objects in the universe that were once the core of a supergiant before undergoing a supernova. The core is revealed after the Supergiant sheds off its outer layers. If the supergiant has an extremely high mass, then it will collapse into a black hole. However, if the star has a high mass, it will condense into a neutron star. Neutron stars, perhaps the densest objects in the universe after the black hole, can have a mass up to two times our sun. After the supernova, it no longer produces nuclear fusion. Without any outward pressure from the fusion and gravitys inward pull, the star reduces in size and collapses in on itself. When was it discovered? The neutron star was discovered in 1934. This is actually two years after the neutron was discovered in 1932.

Who discovered it? It was discovered by Fritz Zwicky and Walter Baade .

How was it discovered? Fritz Zwicky and Walter Baade proposed the idea that the neutron star ultimately strengthened the explosion of a supernova.

View from Earth

We can observe neutron stars in different spectrums and detect their unusual x-rays, electromagnetic waves, and radio waves from the north and south poles of the neutron star when they pass over Earth.

Size A neutron star is about 12 miles in diameter. That's about the size of Vancouver. An object the size of a neutron star would fit in the Grand Canyon. This picture depicts a neutron star and a quark star (strange star)in the Grand Canyon..

What is an Accretion Disk? There will be an accretion disk when a star transfers materials to another star. In this process, one of the stars has to be a star with great gravitational force and density such as a neutron star or a white dwarf star and the other star should be a star just like our Sun.

Structure The structure of a neutron star consists of four parts: outer crust, inner crust, outer core, and the inner core.

Outer Crust - The outer crust is made up of ions and electrons. The surface can be solid or liquid depending on the neutron star's surface temperature.

Inner Crust - The inner crust is made up of electron nuclei and neutrons.

Outer Core - Neutrons and gas comprise the outer core.

CORE????? - The core is the most interesting part because of the uncertainty of its composition. Scientists call it neutron degenerate matter while science fiction calls it neutronium.

Can we live on a Neutron Star? Humans cannot live on a neutron star due to its immense gravity and lack of resources.

Different Types of Neutron Stars

1. Pulsar- A pulsar is a type of neutron star that emits gamma rays, xrays, uv rays, and radio waves from their poles. Pulsars were discovered in 1967 by Jocelyn Bell Burnell when she observed pulses coming from the sky. She did have a faint idea that these series of pulses were coming from an intelligent source of extraterrestrial beings. Thats why she named the pulsar LGM-1 for Little Green Men. X-ray and optical image of the Crab Nebula Vela Nebula. X-ray image of the

2. Magnetar- A magnetar is a type of neutron star that has an immense

magnetic field. Its magnetic field can go up to ten gigateslas while the earths magnetic field is about 30-60 microteslas. That means the magnetar has a quadrillion times more strength in magnetic fields. The magnetar was discovered when a huge blast of gamma rays hit space probes in Venus, satellites, and eventually earth. If a magnetar is 1000 km away from earth, its magnetic fields would be lethal.

What?? Cool!!

1. Theoretically thinking, if you drop a marshmallow onto a neutron star, due to its strong gravity, it would make an explosion similar to an atomic bomb!

2. Theoretically speaking, you would be flattened into disk as thick as an atom if you land on a neutron star!

3. The neutron star can have a trillion times more magnetic field than the Earth

Dwarf Stars

What are dwarf stars? Dwarf stars are stars that are not big in size, brightness and mass... so basically a dwarf star is an ordinary star! Dwarf stars are mid-sequence stars with a range of colors; eventhough many dwarf stars are dim.

Size The size of a dwarf star is unique for each star. The dwarf star can be a size comparable to that of the earth or 1000 times larger than the earth.

Are they satellites? Some dwarf stars are in a binary or trinary star system.

Where are the dwarf stars located? Dwarf stars are all over our universe. The closest dwarf star is our sun, which is 150 million kilometers away from earth.

Composition A dwarf star is composed of hydrogen and helium similar to our sun; however it depends on the type of dwarf star. The sun is a yellow dwarf that has layers and an atmosphere.

Classification Dwarf Stars are classified by their luminosity and what they fuse in their cores.

Different Types of Dwarf Stars

1. White Dwarf- A white dwarf star is a corpse of a star that is similar to our sun. A Red Giant undergoes a planetary nebula which leaves the core behind.... a white dwarf. White dwarfs are perhaps the 3rd densest object in the universe after the black hole and the neutron star. Similar to the neutron star, a white dwarf has high density and fast rotation speeds.

2. Black Dwarf - A black dwarf is a completely cooled down white dwarf.... basically in eighth-grade terms, a dead star. Its is said that there are no black dwarfs in the universe because the universe is 10-20 billion years old. It takes a dwarf star at least a trillion years to completely cool down

What?? Cool!! 1. The red dwarf is the star that is most common. 2. There are white, black, blue, red, yellow and brown dwarfs.