Ejection From Fastest Known Revolving Neutron Star

nachoworld writes: "In a similar vein to the neutron star article posted earlier today, this more interesting NS has emitted a 3-hour long (1000x longer than normal) explosion by fusing the mass of its mostly helium neighbor. In that pluto-sized ejection, the NS emitted enough energy to keep the sun burning for 20 years. On a side note, this is the one and the same neutron star of 4U 1820-30, which is the fastest spining binary known to man (11-minute cycles)."

Comments

Neutron Stars - Pulsars

[Kotetsu]

The submission has one detail wrong - the neutron star is orbiting the other star in only 11 minutes. The situation is the same as the Earth going around the sun (the definition of a year) in only 11 minutes.

Neutron stars actually spin much faster than that. The neutron star B1937+21, discovered in 1982 rotates in 1.6 milliseconds (625 full spins per second). Rapidly spinning neutron stars are also called pulsars, because of the radio pulses they emit. One of the first pulsars discovered was the neutron star in the middle of the Crab Nebula, which rotates 33 times per second.

Obligatory links:
Jodrell Bank
Parkes
Arecibo