Neutron Star
Second Fastest Pulsar Spins 42,000 Times a Minute
Thanks to a team of researchers from the Netherlands, who used the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR), the second fastest-spinning pulsar…
Gravitational Astronomy? How Detecting Gravitational Waves Changes Everything
We’ve now had multiple detections of gravitational waves, opening up a whole new field: gravitational astronomy. We talk about the…
An Aging Pulsar has Captured a new Companion, and it’s Spinning back up Again
An international team of scientists, relying on data from XMM-Newton, have discovered a slowly-rotating pulsar that is slowly speeding back…
What Are Fast Radio Bursts?
Here's a big mystery in astronomy: fast radio bursts. Brief shrieks of radio waves coming from space. What are they?…
What Are Multiple Star Systems?
Not all stars are alone. Some come in pairs and more. And when there are multiple stars in a system,…
A Pulsar and White Dwarf Dance Together In A Surprising Orbit
The discovery of a millisecond pulsar orbiting a low-mass white dwarf star has astronomers puzzled, mainly because its orbit defies…
How Do Supernovae Fail?
You know what’s scarier than a supernova? A supernova that fails, imploding into a black hole, vanishing from the Universe.
What Are Magnetars?
Magnetars are neutron stars with massively boosted magnetic fields. How do this stellar remnants form, and what would happen if…
What are Quark Stars?
Astronomers have theorized there could be an intermediate stage between neutron stars and black holes called quark stars. Are they…
How Fast Can Stars Spin?
Stars can spin faster or slower than the Sun. What’s the fastest that’s ever been discovered, and what’s the fastest…