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HERSCHEL GROUP

Twinkle twinkle little (neutron) star

Dr Paul Roche
Department of Astronomy, University of Cardiff

Friday 01 February 2008 at 7.30pm

Neutron stars are the densest form of "normal" matter observed in the Universe. A typical neutron star could have the mass of the Sun squeezed into a volume only 20km in diameter, and is formed by the explosive death of a massive star. Such exotic objects are observed spinning thousands of times per minute, beaming out radiation like a lighthouse, and sometimes even devouring their companion stars in X-ray binary systems.