Neutron stars are one of the most mysterious objects in space. Scientists have been fascinated about them for a very long time.
So, how do they form? They form when a star collapse and explodes. When the star collapse, the protons and electrons collide because of mass pressure and become neutrons.
Then if the star collapes too much it will become a black hole. If you are interested about black holes, check out the black hole post. But this time the particles win and the core of the
star becomes a neutron star. The neutron star at first is a magnetar, which is a neutron star with an extremely-extremely-EXTREMLY strong magnetic field. If it was 1000 km away from us, it would be FATAL! Ok, back to the neutron star. Then after millions of years, the neutron star becomes a pulsar. A pulsar is a neutron star that create short bursts of radio waves, known as pulses.
So, what is inside a neutron star? Well scientists don't know yet but they have a theory. They say that on the crust, there is very heavy and hot iron nuclei on there.( Some atoms survived not turning into neutrons)
When you go deeper, you will start to see less protons
and more neutrons and electrons because of the pressure. Then when you go deeper, you will see nuclear
pasta. This "pasta" is made of neutrons arranged in a
wiggly line form because, again, of the pressure.
When you go to the core, there might be that the atoms become
quark soup because of the pressure and heat break the neutrons down. Or it could stay
neutrons. People don't know exactly what happens there.
In conclusion, neutron stars are one of the most fascinating things in the universe. There is one fun fact about them: If you take a spoonful of neutron star, it will weigh the weight of Mt Everst!.
Author: Arnob Kumar Saha, 5th grade, 11 years old.
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