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
2. Image: R.N. Bailey, CC BY 4.0, WikiMedia 2 2 Life cycle of a star
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
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
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
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
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
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
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.
10. Image credit: NASA/CXC/K. Divona
11. PULSAR • A neutron star with a very strong magnetic field Watts+16 Image credit: Mysid/R. Smits Magnetic field lines (invisible!)
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
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
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
15. Studying pulsars in space Image credit: NASA NICER: Neutron star Interior Composition ExploreR
16. Studying pulsars in space Video credit: NASA
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
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
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
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
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
22. Pulsar wind nebulae • Energetic particles from the pulsar collide with the ambient space dust Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/McGill
23. • PBS Crash Course Astronomy on neutron stars • Chandra X-ray Observatory • NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Media Studios Further learning resources