A neutron star is a very small and dense star made almost completely of neutrons. They are small stars with a radius of about 11–11.5 kilometers. They have a mass of about twice that of the Sun. They are the smallest and densest stars known to exist in the Universe.
Neutron stars have a radius on the order of 10 kilometers (6.2 mi) and a mass of about 1.4 solar masses. They result from the supernova explosion of a massive star, combined with gravitational collapse, that compresses the core past white dwarf star density to that of atomic nuclei.
Neutron stars that can be observed are very hot and typically have a surface temperature of around 600000 K. They are so dense that a normal-sized matchbox containing neutron-star material would have a weight of approximately 3 billion tonnes, the same weight as a 0.5 cubic kilometer chunk of the Earth (a cube with edges of about 800 meters) from Earth's surface. Their magnetic fields are between 108 and 1015 (100 million to 1 quadrillion) times stronger than Earth's magnetic field. The gravitational field at the neutron star's surface is about 2×10^11 (200 billion) times that of Earth's gravitational field.
Neutron stars have overall densities of 3.7×1017 to 5.9×1017 kg/m3 (2.6×1014 to 4.1×1014 times the density of the Sun), which is comparable to the approximate density of an atomic nucleus of 3×1017 kg/m^3. The neutron star's density varies from about 1×109 kg/m^3 in the crust—increasing with depth—to about 6×10^17 or 8×10^17 kg/m^3 (denser than an atomic nucleus) deeper inside. A neutron star is so dense that one teaspoon (5 milliliters) of its material would have a mass over 5.5×10^12 kg, about 900 times the mass of the Great Pyramid of Giza.
Neutron stars are detected from their electromagnetic radiation. Neutron stars are usually observed to pulse radio waves and other electromagnetic radiation, and neutron stars observed with pulses are called pulsars. Neutron stars rotate extremely rapidly after their formation due to the conservation of angular momentum.
At present, there are about 2,000 known neutron stars in the Milky Way and the Magellanic Clouds, the majority of which have been detected as radio pulsars. Neutron stars are mostly concentrated along with the disk of the Milky Way, although the spread perpendicular to the disk is large because the supernova explosion process can impart high translational speeds (400 km/s) to the newly formed neutron star.
Some of the closest known neutron stars are RX J1856.5−3754, which is about 400 light-years from Earth, and PSR J0108−1431 about 424 light-years.
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