Neutron star. Neutron star. Neutron stars contain 500,000 times the mass of the Earth in a sphere with a diameter no larger than that of Brooklyn, United States A neutron star is a type of stellar remnant that can result from the gravitational collapse of a massive star during a Type II, Type Ib or Type Ic supernova event.
Neutron stars are the densest and tiniest stars known to exist in the universe; although having only the diameter of about 10 km (6 mi), they may have a mass of several times that of the Sun. Neutron stars probably appear white to the naked eye. Neutron stars are the end points of stars whose inert core's mass after nuclear burning is greater than the Chandrasekhar limit for white dwarfs, but whose mass is not great enough to overcome the neutron degeneracy pressure to become black holes. Such stars are composed almost entirely of neutrons, which are subatomic particles without net electrical charge and with slightly larger mass than protons. Neutron Stars - Introduction. Neutron stars are compact objects that are created in the cores of massive stars during supernova explosions.
The core of the star collapses, and crushes together every proton with a corresponding electron turning each electron-proton pair into a neutron. The neutrons, however, can often stop the collapse and remain as a neutron star. Neutron stars are fascinating objects because they are the most dense objects known. Neutron Stars and Pulsars - Introduction. Neutron Stars A neutron star is about 20 km in diameter and has the mass of about 1.4 times that of our Sun.
This means that a neutron star is so dense that on Earth, one teaspoonful would weigh a billion tons! Because of its small size and high density, a neutron star possesses a surface gravitational field about 2 x 1011 times that of Earth. Neutron stars can also have magnetic fields a million times stronger than the strongest magnetic fields produced on Earth.