What is a neutron star? What is a pulsar?
Click on the questions below to check your answers
How do we know what the interior of a neutron star is made of? What is the structure of a neutron star like?
We observe sudden glitches, increases in spin rate, which are only possible if the crust of the neutron star is solid.
A liquid core has no viscosity (resembles a superfluid) and is made of free neutrons. On top of it is a solid crust which is made mostly of iron with other neutron-rich nuclei below it.
Other important properties of neutron stars (beyond mass and size): Rotation – as the parent star collapses, the neutron core spins very rapidly, conserving angular momentum (when something shrinks, it must spin faster). Typical periods are fractions of a second. Magnetic field – again as a result of the collapse, the neutron star’s magnetic field becomes enormously strong.