47 Tucanae in 60 Seconds
Narrator (April Hobart, CXC): Neutron stars
are the ultra-dense cores that are often left
behind after massive stars run out of fuel
and collapse.
In fact, these compact objects, which are
less than 10 miles in diameter, contain the
densest matter known in the Universe outside
of a black hole.
New results from Chandra and other X-ray telescopes
are giving scientists information about important
properties of neutron stars.
By studying eight neutron stars, a group of
researchers have come up with the one of the
most reliable determinations yet of the relation
between the radius of a neutron star and its
mass.
They looked at the neutron stars in double,
or binary, systems where they are in orbit
with stars like our Sun.
One of these systems is known as X7 and is
found in the globular cluster 47 Tucanae.
Because the mass and radius of a neutron star
is directly related to interactions between
the particles in the interior of the star,
the latest results give scientists new information
about the inner workings of neutron stars.
