"Extraordinary" Slow-Spinning Neutron Star Shakes Astrophysics
By UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY
JUNE 5, 2024
Researchers at the University of Sydney and CSIRO have discovered a neutron star that spins slower than any previously known, using the ASKAP radio telescope. This finding challenges existing models of neutron star behavior and could reshape our understanding of stellar evolution and the characteristics of these dense remnants of supernovae. Credit: SciTechDaily.com
Most collapsed stars fully rotate in seconds. This one takes almost an hour.
Australian scientists from the University of Sydney and Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, have detected what is likely a neutron star spinning slower than any other ever measured.
No other radio-emitting neutron star, out of the more than 3000 discovered so far, has been discovered rotating so slowly. The results are published today (June 5) in Nature Astronomy.
Lead author Dr. Manisha Caleb from the University of Sydney Institute for Astronomy said: “It is highly unusual to discover a neutron star candidate emitting radio pulsations in this way. The fact that the signal is repeating at such a leisurely pace is extraordinary.”
Long Period Pulsar
Artist’s depiction of CSIRO’s ASKAP radio telescope with two versions of the mysterious celestial object: neutron star or white dwarf? Credit: Carl Knox/OzGrav
Challenges to Current Astrophysical Models
This unusual neutron star is emitting radio light at a rate that is too slow to fit with current descriptions of radio neutron star behavior. This provides new insights into the complex life cycles of stellar objects.
At the end of their life, large stars about 10 times the mass of the Sun use up all their fuel and explode in a spectacular blast we call a supernova. What remains is a stellar remnant so dense that 1.4 times the mass of our Sun is packed into a ball just 20 kilometers acrossM
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