"Black Widow" Pulsar May Be The Heaviest Neutron Star Ever

Astronomers have found a neutron star at the very limit of what is possible.

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DR. ALFREDO CARPINETI
Senior Staff Writer & Space Correspondent

Jul 27, 2022 10:00 AM



Artist impression of a pulsar.
Image Credit: MichaelTaylor/Shutterstock.com

Neutron stars are among the densest objects in the Universe, the result of supernovae explosions. The only thing denser is black holes, and if a neutron star were to acquire enough mass, it is expected to collapse into one. Thanks to new research, astronomers believe they know how big that neutron star has to be – and they have found one that is literally at that limit.

As reported in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, the object in question is called PSR J0952-060 and is a black widow pulsar. It’s a pulsar and not just a regular neutron star because it spins very fast around its axis with a jet of material pointing toward us, so it pulsates. That pulsation is fast – 707 times per second.

The black widow part is because it stole material from and destroyed its original companion which had become a red giant. This thievery helps the pulsar spin faster, leading to more energetic particles coming off the pulsars. This wind of particles strips the other star, reducing it to the size of a planet and then to nothing. In this system, the companion now weighs just 20 times the mass of Jupiter.

At the same time, the pulsar can gain more mass – but up to a point. By studying a dozen black widow pulsars, the researchers found a reasonable number for the highest mass one can be before the neutron star collapse under its weight. PSR J0952-060 is there, weighing 2.35 times the mass of our Sun.

More:
https://www.iflscience.com/black-widow-pulsar-may-be-the-heaviest-neutron-star-ever-64624