A Hotspot Map of Neutron Star J0030s Surface
Explanation:
What do neutron stars look like?
Previously these
city-sized stars were too small and too far away to resolve.
Recently, however, the
first
maps of the locations and sizes of
hotspots on a neutron star's surface have been
made by carefully modeling how the rapid spin makes the star's
X-ray
brightness rise and fall.
Based on a leading model, an
illustrative map of
pulsar
J0030+0451's hotspots is pictured,
with the rest of the star's surface filled in with a false patchy blue.
J0030
spins once every 0.0049 seconds and is located about 1000
light years away.
The
map was computed from data taken by NASA's Neutron star Interior Composition
ExploreR
(NICER)
X-ray telescope attached to the
International Space Station.
The
computed locations of
these hotspots is surprising and not well understood.
Because the gravitational
lensing effect of neutron stars is so strong, J0300
displays more than half
of its surface toward the Earth.
Studying the
appearance of pulsars like J0030
allows accurate estimates of the
neutron star's mass, radius, and the
internal physics that keeps the star from imploding into a
black hole.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
