Just like neutron stars, everything in this life has its cycle: people, animals, nature, stars and even our planet. The only difference is that each of these entities has a very different way of reaching the final phase.
Astronomers at the Green Bank Observatory in the United States detected the star J0740+6620 or, to put it more simply, the largest neutron star ever discovered in the entire universe (so far).
This giant star is located about 4,600 light years (1 light year is equivalent to 9.46 x 10(12) kilometers) from Earth and is spinning rapidly toward the end of its existence because it is very close to reaching mass maximum possible for a star of .
What is a neutron star?
These “objects” are a mixture of remains of massive stars that have exploded and become supernovae, in addition to being characterized as the densest bodies in the solar system among all those known so far.
Its density is so heavy that just a spoonful of sugar from that star could weigh up to 100 million tons if we measured it here on Earth, something like 17 African elephants combined. In total it has 2.17 times the mass of the sun, although its diameter is much smaller than that of the sun.
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How did they discover it?
Through the Green Bank Telescope they discovered an electromagnetic radio signal that came from the star J0740+6620 and which indicates that it may have a dangerous atomic nucleus.
This powerful radius of electromagnetic waves is what allows astronomers to calculate the mass of these celestial bodies, in addition to determining whether they are orbiting a star or if they are close to their maximum mass.
In this case, the neutron star is separated from the Earth by a small star, which delays the magnetic waves received from it.
This does not mean that this big star is going to cause problems on our planet since the distance that separates us is really enormous.
However, what astronomers are sure of is that the neutrons that make up this generate such a density that they will make its collapse inevitable.