Gluttonous cosmic 'black widow' is heaviest-known neutron star

Published: 4th Aug, 2022

Context

For the first time, astronomers have discovered the heaviest known neutron star, an object that forms when the core of a massive star undergoes gravitational collapse at the end of its life.

The neutron star classified as a “black widow” has a mass about 2.35 times greater than that of our sun.

About

About “Black Widow”:

The neutron star is wildly spinning at 707 times per second.
It has been observed the most massive known example of an object called a neutron star.
This neutron star inhabits what is called a binary system, in an orbit with another star.
The neutron star is a kind dubbed a "black widow," named in honor of female black widow spiders that eat their male partners after mating.
It apparently was born with the usual mass of a neutron star, about 1.4 times that of our sun, but its gravitational pull poached material from its companion star, enabling it to grow to a mass seemingly at the uppermost limit before physics would dictate a collapse into a black hole, the densest of all known objects.
It has swallowed nearly a full sun's worth of mass without yet becoming a black hole. So it should be just on the edge of black hole collapse.

About Stars

A star is an astronomical object consisting of a luminous spheroid of plasma held together by its own gravity.
A star's life begins with the gravitational collapse of a gaseous nebula of material composed primarily of hydrogen, along with helium and trace amounts of heavier elements.
The total mass of a star is the main factor that determines its evolution and eventual fate.
For most of its active life, a star shines due to the thermonuclear fusion of hydrogen into helium in its core, releasing energy that traverses the star's interior and then radiates into outer space.
At the end of a star's lifetime, its core becomes a stellar remnant: a white dwarf, a neutron star, or, if it is sufficiently massive, a black hole.
Stars can form orbital systems with other astronomical objects, as in the case of planetary systems and star systems with two or more stars.

Neutron Stars

Neutron stars are formed when a massive star runs out of fuel and collapses.
The very central region of the star, the core, collapses, crushing together every proton and electron into a neutron.
If the core of the collapsing star is between about 1 and 3 solar masses, these newly-created neutrons can stop the collapse, leaving behind a neutron star.
Stars with higher masses will continue to collapse into stellar-mass black holes.
Many neutron stars are likely undetectable because they simply do not emit enough radiation.

Black Hole

A black hole is a region of space-time, where gravity is extremely strong that no object can escape from it.
Types: There are two types of black holes which become three with the discovery:

Stellar-mass black holes: These are the black holes with a mass of fewer than 100 times that of the Sun.
Supermassive black holes (SMBH): These are the ones with a mass greater than 100,000 times that of the Sun.
Intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs): These are a class of black holes with a mass approximately 100 to 100,000 times that of the Sun.

Both stellar black holes and SMBHs are commonly found.

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Gluttonous cosmic 'black widow' is heaviest-known neutron star