An international team of astronomers has discovered one of the fastest spinning neutron stars in the universe. It rotates around its own axis at a speed of 716 times per second – that’s an incredible 42,960 times per minute.
The rotation speed of this neutron star, which is part of a binary system with the catalog name 4U 1820-30, could be measured thanks to the presence of its closest companion – a so-called white dwarf. This star, which is about the size of Earth, orbits Earth in just eleven minutes. This makes 4U 1820-30 the dual system with the shortest turnaround time known to date.
Neutron star removes a lot of material
This proximity causes the neutron star to pull material away from the white dwarf. Whenever enough of it accumulates on the surface, a massive nuclear explosion occurs. The neutron star becomes 100,000 times brighter than our sun and releases enormous amounts of energy.
Energy recorded and recorded with the X-ray telescope Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER for short, see image below), which is mounted on the outside of the International Space Station (ISS).
26,000 light years from Earth
The neutron star is located 26,000 light-years from Earth, approximately in the center of the Milky Way. Although its diameter is estimated to be only eight to sixteen miles, it has 1.4 times the mass of our Sun.
Because the white dwarf orbits so close to the neutron star that it takes only 11.4 minutes to complete one orbit, the neutron star can suck an especially large amount of helium from its larger but lighter partner.
Neutron stars are the extremely dense ‘corpses’ of burned-out suns. A teaspoon of their matter weighs about a billion tons. Their enormous mass causes them to attract and suck in anything that flies near them.
Source: Krone
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