NICER Lensing
- Visualizations by:
- Walt Feimer
- View full credits
For more information about NICER visit: nasa.gov/nicer.
With the mass of 1.5-2 suns compressed into a city-size volume, neutron stars exert a powerful gravitational force, even on the light emitted from their surfaces. For a fixed mass, the smaller the star, the more strongly light paths (pink arrows) are "bent," so that a distant observer (to the right, in this animation) can see more of the otherwise invisible far side of the star.
Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab
Animators
- Walt Feimer (KBRwyle) [Lead]
- Lisa Poje (USRA)
Producer
- Clare Skelly (NASA/GSFC)
Missions
This visualization is related to the following missions:Related pages
NICER Payload Animations
April 25, 2017, 8 p.m.
Read moreWide angle view and zoom in of the NICER payload onboard the International Space Station. || Animated video and stills of the Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) payload. || High resolution (wide angle) animated still image of the NICER payload aboard the International Space Station. || Close up of the NICER payload onboard the International Space Station. || High resolution (close up) animated still images of the NICER payload aboard the International Space Station. || Turntable of the NICER payload. The animation calls out locations of the payload’s star tracker camera, electronics, International Space Station attachment mechanism, 56 sunshields, pointing actuators and stow/deploy actuator.
Neutron Star Animations
April 25, 2017, 8 p.m.
Read moreA 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. || 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. || 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.