Abrams Planetarium Night Sky Chat: Neutron Stars and Pulsars!

This talk was given as part of the Abrams Planetarium Night Sky Chats on September 30th, 2020. Note that gifs and videos won't render in this pdf.

Watch a video of the talk and accompanying pulsar craft here! https://www.facebook.com/AbramsPlanetarium/videos/427375928234639

More about neutron stars and pulsars: https://abigailstevens.com/outreach/neutron-stars-and-pulsars/

Transcript

1. Neutron stars
   and Pulsars!
   Dr. Abbie Stevens
   Abrams Planetarium
   Night sky chat
   

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2. Image: R.N. Bailey, CC BY 4.0, WikiMedia
   2
   2
   Life cycle of a star
   

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3. Neutron star
   • Leftover when a massive star (10-20x as big as our Sun)
   dies in a supernova
   Watts+16
   Image credit: ESA / HST / L. Calcada / NASA GSFC
   

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4. Neutron star
   • Leftover when a massive star (10-20x as big as our Sun)
   dies in a supernova
   • About 15 miles across, with 1.5x the mass of the Sun!
   Watts+16
   Image credit: Google maps
   

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5. Neutron star
   • Leftover when a massive star (10-20x as big as our Sun)
   dies in a supernova
   • About 15 miles across, with 1.5x the mass of the Sun!
   • Their average density is equal to the density of an atomic
   nucleus!
   Watts+16
   Image credit:
   Watts+16
   

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6. Neutron star
   • Leftover when a massive star (10-20x as big as our Sun)
   dies in a supernova
   • About 15 miles across, with 1.5x the mass of the Sun!
   • Their average density is equal to the density of an atomic
   nucleus!
   Watts+16
   Image credit:
   Watts+16
   

   View Slide

7. Neutron star
   • Leftover when a massive star (10-20x as big as our Sun)
   dies in a supernova
   • About 15 miles across, with 1.5x the mass of the Sun!
   • Their average density is equal to the density of an atomic
   nucleus!
   • VERY strong gravity: acceleration at surface is
   100,000,000,000x stronger than on Earth
   Watts+16
   Image credit: JBO/John Rowe Animation
   

   View Slide

8. Neutron star
   Photo credit: F.E.Austin
   • Leftover when a massive star (10-20x as big as our Sun)
   dies in a supernova
   • About 15 miles across, with 1.5x the mass of the Sun!
   • Their average density is equal to the density of an atomic
   nucleus!
   • VERY strong gravity: acceleration at surface is
   100,000,000,000x stronger than on Earth
   • Has a magnetic field 1 billion – 1 quadrillion times
   stronger than Earth’s
   

   View Slide

9. Neutron star
   • Leftover when a massive star (10-20x as big as our Sun)
   dies in a supernova
   • About 15 miles across, with 1.5x the mass of the Sun!
   • Their average density is equal to the density of an atomic
   nucleus!
   • VERY strong gravity: acceleration at surface is
   100,000,000,000x stronger than on Earth
   • Has a magnetic field 1 billion – 1 quadrillion times
   stronger than Earth’s
   • Spin on their axis up to
   100’s of times per second!
   Watts+16
   Image credit: Warner Bros.
   

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10. Image credit: NASA/CXC/K. Divona
    

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11. PULSAR
    • A neutron star with a very strong magnetic field
    Watts+16 Image credit:
    Mysid/R. Smits
    Magnetic
    field lines
    (invisible!)
    

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12. PULSAR
    • A neutron star with a very strong magnetic field
    • Shines bright beams of light out of its north and south
    magnetic poles
    Watts+16
    Video credit: NASA
    

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13. Fancy PULSAR
    Some types of pulsars might have a twisted magnetic field
    structure, so they might have multiple poles in different
    shapes and locations!
    Watts+16
    Video credit: NASA
    

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14. PULSAR
    • A neutron star with a very strong magnetic field
    • Shines bright beams of light out of its north and south
    magnetic poles
    • Beams of light + spinning = pulses (like a lighthouse)
    Watts+16
    Kramer gif
    Image credit: M. Kramer; H.Craft/P.Saville
    

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15. Studying pulsars in
    space
    Image credit: NASA
    NICER: Neutron star Interior
    Composition ExploreR
    

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16. Studying pulsars in
    space
    Video credit: NASA
    

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17. Supernova remnants
    • Gas from outer layers of exploding star heating up as it
    hits ambient space dust
    Watts+16
    Image credit: NASA/CXC/SAO
    

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18. Supernova remnants
    • Gas from outer layers of exploding star heating up as it
    hits ambient space dust
    Watts+16
    Image credit:
    NASA/CXC/RIKEN &
    GSFC/T. Sato+ & DSS
    Image credit: NASA/CXC/SAO
    

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19. Supernova remnants
    • Gas from outer layers of exploding star heating up as it
    hits ambient space dust
    Watts+16
    Image credit:
    NASA/ESA/HST
    

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20. Pulsar wind nebulae
    • Energetic particles from the pulsar collide with the
    ambient space dust
    Image credit:
    NASA/CXC/SAO/F.Seward &
    ESA/ASU/J.Hester & A.Loll; &
    JPL-Caltech/UMinn./R.Gehrz
    

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21. Pulsar wind nebulae
    • Energetic particles from the pulsar collide with the
    ambient space dust
    Image credit:
    NASA/ESA/STScI/F.Summers+;
    CXC/SAO/N.Wolk+ &
    Caltech/IPAC/R.Hurt
    

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22. Pulsar wind nebulae
    • Energetic particles from the pulsar collide with the
    ambient space dust
    Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/McGill
    

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23. • PBS Crash Course Astronomy on neutron stars
    • Chandra X-ray Observatory
    • NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Media Studios
    Further learning resources
    

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25. View Slide