Fast-Moving Neutron Star From Hubble

CEHT writes: "Recently, the Hubble discovered a fast moving neutron star which is 10 trillion times denser than steel, 100 times faster than a supersonic jet. Here is the article from CNN.com." If we had a General Products hull, we could send a probe to investigate.

Comments

some info

[Random Walk]

Neutron stars are the remnants of supernova explosions. It is well known by now that the neutron star often speeds away from the explosion with a "kick velocity" of several 100 km/s (as far as I know, the record is well above 1000 km/s). The reason is not yet clear, although there are some theories, one of them being asymmetric explosion. More theories can be found here.

So the speed of RX J1856.5-3754 (about 85-100 km/s) is more in the lower range. What make this star interesting is not its velocity, but the fact that it is rather unique, because it does not show any activity (e.g. pulsations), unlike most other known neutron stars.

Also, as there is no gaseous shell from the supernova left, thus it must be quite old (at least 100000 yrs), but nevertheless the neutron star is still rather hot (as evidenced by its X-ray emission). This is puzzling because neutron stars have no internal energy source (unlike "normal" stars that are powered by thermonuclear reactions), and therefore should cool down continuously from the moment of birth.

There is an ESO Press Release about this object which offers much more info than the CNN article, yet is still written for non-scientists.

Re:General Products?

[fudboy]

The General Products Corporation (and their mainstay product line of spaceship hulls) was the mouthpiece of the cowardly race called the "Puppeteers" in the book Ringworld (so named because of their "heads", two mouth/eye stalks resembling human arm-puppets as well as their devious and manipulative ways. They are also tripedal which isn't nearly as silly as it sounds here).

The GP Hulls are constructed of one solid piece of some fantastic transparent and indestructable material. The inside surface is coated with a 'stasis field' conducting film making the ship indestructable and extremely safe. If a threat were detected, such as immenent collision or attack, the satsis field would flip on and further interaction with the space-time continuum would be cut off for anything within the field. The computer would set to deactivate the field in random intervals and poll for conditions. if it was safe (say the sun you crashed into finally blew up and cast you free), then you were back in real time and could continue your voyage.

As a side note, even with all these amazing strentghs, the puppeteers, as a race, were far to paranoid to actually use a spaceship. that would be madness!

:)Fudboy