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Abrams Planetarium Night Sky Chat: Neutron Stars and Pulsars!

Dr. Abbie Stevens
September 30, 2020
61

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/

Dr. Abbie Stevens

September 30, 2020
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Transcript

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

    View Slide

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

    View Slide

  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

    View Slide

  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

    View Slide

  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

    View Slide

  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.

    View Slide

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

    View Slide

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

    View Slide

  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

    View Slide

  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

    View Slide

  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

    View Slide

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

    View Slide

  16. Studying pulsars in
    space
    Video credit: NASA

    View Slide

  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

    View Slide

  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

    View Slide

  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

    View Slide

  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

    View Slide

  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

    View Slide

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

    View Slide

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

    View Slide

  24. View Slide

  25. View Slide