What is a neutron star and why is it so extreme?
A sugar-cube-sized piece would weigh a billion tons on Earth.
The answer
A neutron star is the collapsed core of a massive star after a supernova, compressed so tightly that protons and electrons merge into neutrons. Typically only about 20 kilometers across but containing 1.4 to 2 solar masses, a neutron star's density is about 10¹⁷ kg/m³ - a teaspoon would weigh about a billion tons. They spin at up to 716 rotations per second, possess magnetic fields a trillion times stronger than Earth's, and have surface gravity about 2 billion times that of Earth. Falling from one meter would impact the surface at 7 million km/h.
Source: Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics
- neutron stars
- stellar remnants
- density
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