NICER Lensing

  • Released Wednesday, April 26th, 2017
  • Updated Wednesday, May 3rd, 2023 at 1:47PM
  • ID: 20268

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.

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NICER observes X-ray light from the surfaces of neutron stars. In these strong-gravity environments, light paths are distorted so that NICER can see emission from the star's far side, especially for smaller, denser stars.

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.

For More Information

See NASA.gov

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: