Tag Archives: companion stars

‘Vampire’ neutron star explosions involve jets traveling at speeds close to the speed of light

A neutron star is the remains of a once massive star that died in a supernova explosion. As a whole, neutron stars are considered some of the most extreme objects in the known universe – and this is especially true when these incredibly dense stellar remnants exist alongside companion stars (that are not yet “dead”)… Read More »

300 gamma-ray-bursting neutron stars found in a massive mass, some of them ‘spider pulsars’

The Fermi gamma-ray space telescope discovered nearly 300 rapidly rotating neutron stars. Each of the newly discovered objects scans two beams of radiation across the universe like a cosmic lighthouse. These neutron stars are known to rotate hundreds of times per second and are specifically called millisecond pulsars; Before Fermi’s launch in 2008, humanity was… Read More »