Neutron Star Animations

  • Released Wednesday, April 26th, 2017
  • Updated Wednesday, November 15th, 2023 at 12:24AM
  • ID: 20267

The Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) mission will study neutron stars, the densest known objects in the cosmos. These neutron star animations and graphics highlight some of their unique characteristics.

For more information about NICER visit: nasa.gov/nicer.

A neutron star begins its life as a star between about 7 and 20 times the mass of the sun. When this type of star runs out of fuel, it collapses under its own weight, crushing its core and triggering a supernova explosion. What remains is an ultra-dense sphere only about the size of a city across, but with up to twice the mass of the sun squeezed inside.

This animation shows the size and scale of a neutron star over San Francisco.

Neutron stars squeeze up to two solar masses into a city-size volume, giving rise to the highest stable densities known anywhere. The nature of matter under these conditions is a decades-old unsolved problem.

This stylized animation shows the structure of a neutron star. The states of matter at neutron stars' inner cores remains a mystery.

NICER will confront nuclear physics theory with unique measurements, exploring the exotic states of matter within neutron stars through rotation-resolved X-ray spectroscopy.

Animation of a spinning neutron star in space. Neutron stars are directly observable, usually as “pulsars” – the lighthouses of the cosmos.

For More Information

See https://www.nasa.gov/nicer/

Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab

Missions

This visualization is related to the following missions: