New way found to study neutron stars

GREENBELT, Md., Aug. 28 (UPI) -- Astronomers using Europe's Newton X-ray satellite observatory and Japan's Suzaku satellite have created a new way of studying neutron stars.

The European Space Agency said the astronomers have seen Einstein’s predicted distortion of space-time around three neutron stars.

Astronomers use such collapsed stars as natural laboratories to study how tightly matter can be compacted under the most extreme pressure that nature can offer.

"This is fundamental physics," said Sudip Bhattacharyya at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. "There could be exotic kinds of particles or states of matter, such as quark matter, in the centers of neutron stars, but it’s impossible to create them in the lab. The only way to find out is to understand neutron stars."

Bhattacharyya and colleague Tod Strohmayer determined neutron stars accrete matter similarly to that of black holes. That, said Strohmayer, gives scientists a new tool to investigate Einstein’s theory.

A paper by Bhattacharyya and Strohmayer appeared in the Aug. 1 issue of the Astrophysical Journal. Similar research led by Edward Cackett and Jon Miller at the University of Michigan, using the Suzaku satellite, has been submitted for publication in the same journal.