Astrophysical object
Neutron Star
Cosmology & UniverseEstablished Science
Definition
The ultra-dense collapsed core of a massive star, packing more than the Sun's mass into a city-sized sphere.
Scientific overview
When a massive star explodes as a supernova, its core can collapse into a neutron star — matter so dense a teaspoon would weigh billions of tonnes. Rapidly spinning, magnetised neutron stars are observed as pulsars.
Measurements
| Typical mass | ≈ 1.4 M☉ in ~20 km | NASA |
Related discoveries & objects
Related scientists
Related topics
Knowledge connections
- Related toGravitational Waves
- Related toStellar-Mass Black Hole
- Related toMagnetar
- Related toStellar-Mass Black Hole
- Related toThe Discovery of Pulsars
- Studied bySubrahmanyan Chandrasekhar
- Related toMagnetar
- Related toWhite Dwarf
- Associated withMassive-Star Core Collapse
- Associated withElectron Degeneracy Pressure
- Associated withNeutron Degeneracy Pressure
- Associated withThe Neutron-Star Equation of State
- Associated withThe Pulsar Mechanism
- Associated withPulsar Glitch
- Associated withThe Magnetar Magnetic Field
- Associated withPulsar
- Associated withMillisecond Pulsar
- Associated withX-ray Pulsar
- Associated withRotation-Powered Pulsar
- Associated withThe Crab Pulsar
- Associated withThe Vela Pulsar
- Associated withPSR B1919+21
- Associated withPSR J0740+6620
Sources & references
The primary and reference sources this topic draws on.
- NASANational Aeronautics and Space Administration
Mission data, planetary science, space telescopes, and public-domain imagery.
Most NASA-produced imagery is in the public domain; individual items are checked for usage terms before publication.