GREEN BANK, W.Va., Oct. 27 (UPI) -- U.S. astronomers say they've found the most massive neutron star ever discovered whose size could challenge long-held theories in physics and astrophysics.
Astronomers using the National Science Foundation's Green Bank Telescope found the neutron star and a companion dwarf white star about 3,000 light years away from Earth, ScienceDaily.com reported.
Neutron stars are the remains of massive stars that exploded in a supernova and then collapsed in on themselves so tightly their protons and electrons are crushed down to neutrons.
Neutron stars are so dense a thumbnail-size piece of material would weigh millions of tons.
The newly discovered star is also a pulsar, emitting tightly focused beams of radio waves that sweep through space as it rotates.
The researchers expected the neutron star to have about one and a half times the mass of our sun, but their calculations of its mass were a revelation.
"This neutron star is twice as massive as our sun. This is surprising, and that much mass means that several theoretical models for the internal composition of neutron stars now are ruled out," said Paul Demorest of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory.
The discovery could provide new ways of looking at quarks, Gamma rays and even gravity waves, scientists say.
"Pulsars in general give us a great opportunity to study exotic physics, and this system is a fantastic laboratory sitting out there, giving us valuable information with wide-ranging implications," Scott Ransom of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory says.
"It is amazing to me that one simple number -- the mass of this neutron star -- can tell us so much about so many different aspects of physics and astronomy," he says.
