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---------------------1897 - The mysterious Neutron Stars, Pulsars, and Quasars
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- There are mysterious radio bursts coming to us from far away galaxies. Since 2007 some 20 pulses have been recorded. The pulses only last for a few milliseconds, but, they release the energy equal to a million suns.
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- These 20 events were viewed in telescopes that can observe only a small patch of sky at any one time. If astronomers could view the entire sky at one time they estimate that there are 10,000 radio bursts occurring every day.
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- Astronomers have no explanation as to the source of this enormous energy. Some ideas include colliding Neutron Stars, exploding Blackholes, snapping Cosmic Strings of space-time.
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- This radio energy passes through the expanses of space encountering magnetic fields, plasma clouds of charged particles, and other Cosmic stuff. If we really understood these radio bursts and could measure them precisely they could be a whole new “ telescope” to see the composition and structure of the Universe.
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- Astronomers are studying “ Pulsars” which are rapidly spinning Neutron Stars. ( See Footnote (1)) These are collapsed stars that are only a few kilometers in diameter, but, extremely dense, atom nuclei collapsed into neutrons at the core.
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- As the Pulsars rotate they swing a beam of radiation across our line-of- sight. These radio signals appear as pulsating blips. However, ever so often a radio signal will blip with so much energy it will saturate the electronics destroying the measurement signal. These bursts of energy only last up to 5 milliseconds.
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- After several of these occurrences over several years astronomers are convinced the bursts are originating in far away galaxies. By measuring the signal “ dispersion” of higher frequency signals versus lower frequency signals astronomers can infer these great distances. Higher frequencies arrive faster after traveling through intergalactic plasma, ie: charged electrons. Lower frequencies are slowed by this same medium. By measuring this delay astronomers can calculate how much intergalactic space the signal has traveled.
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- Radio bursts from Quasars are quite common. ( See Footnote (2)). But, these signals are much weaker. The fast radio bursts referred to above are 1,000,000 times brighter than Quasars. The theories on what causes this are also extreme.
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- Cosmic Strings are superconductors of electric currents that snap in space-time creating a burst of electromagnetic radiation.
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- Or, Blackholes exploding in a burst of radio waves. Maybe these are “tiny” Blackholes that formed in the first few seconds of the Big Bang.
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- Or, the massive collision of two Neutron Stars. It is all still a mystery.
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- In March of this year, 2016, astronomers uncovered a burst that reoccurred 11 times in 16 days. This recurring signal dispels theories of a single event like exploding Blackholes, or colliding Neutron Stars. This event has a process that could regenerate itself.
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- It could be that the rapid rotation of a Neutron Star could generate an enormously powerful magnetic field. Called a “Magnetar“. Somewhat similar to Solar Flares on our Sun’s surface, a magnetic field could “ snap” releasing a torrent of energy, accelerating charged particles , that in turn could emit radio bursts.
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- Regardless of the source these signals they could act as Cosmic lasers that could more accurately describe the structure of the Universe. The astronomy world has a new focus of concentration. There is a lot more to learn here. An announcement will be made shortly, stay tuned.
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- (1) Pulsars - The first discovery of a Neutron Star occurred in 1967 when a graduate student discovered a strong source of radio waves. The pulses of radio waves were arriving at exactly 1.337301 second intervals.
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- Now known as “ Pulsars” they are Neutron Stars left behind by supernova explosions. The stars spin as the result of the Conservation of Angular Momentum as the star collapses in size. The spinning star creates a magnetic field that is a trillion times as strong as the Sun’s. At the magnetic poles beams of radiation escape. When the magnetic poles don’t align with the rotation axis a sweeping beam rotates rapidly.
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- Pulsars have been discovered that are rotating 625 times per second. Only a Neutron Star could spin that fast without tearing a part.
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- (2) Quasars are powerful radio emissions coming from distant galaxies. The galaxy centers are Blackholes with rapid rotating disks of inflowing material. The friction, centripetal force, angular momentum , and gravitational energies all compete to produce intense radiation, more than from 1,000 galaxies the size of the Milky Way.
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- The rapidly rotating disk drives two jets of escaping plasma in opposite directions out the poles. When the jets hit intergalactic gas they produce hot spots with radio lobes. The jets are formed inside twisted magnetic fields that contain and guide the charge particles.
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- By measuring the orbital radius ( r ) and the orbital velocity ( v ) of the gas clouds orbiting the Blackhole at the center of the galaxy we can calculate the mass inside the radius.
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----------------------------- Mass = r * v^2 / G
------------------- G = Gravitational Constant = 6.67*10^-11 m^3/( kg*sec^2)
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------------------ Velocity = v = 800 kilometers per second
------------------ Velocity = 1,790,000 miles per hour.
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------------------ Radius = r = 60 lightyears
------------------ Radius = 5.6 * 10^17 meters
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----------------- Mass = ( 5.6*10^17) * (8.0 * 10^5)^2 / 6.67*10^-11
----------------- Mass = 5.4*10^39 kilograms
----------------- Solar Mass = 2.0*10^30 kilograms
----------------- Mass = 2.7 * 10^9 Solar Mass
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- The mass in the Blackhole , the central region of the galaxy, is equivalent to 2.7 billion Suns.
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- (3) Other Reviews available:
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- #1327 - Neutron Stars - The surface is solid and harder that a diamond, 50 trillion times denser than solid lead. Its magnetic field is a trillion times more intense than that of our Sun.
- # 1273 - Neutron Star mergers.
- #1192 - The new zoo of Pulsars.
- # 642 - Neutron Stars, Pulsars, and Magnetars.
- # 861 - Cannon Ball Stars
- #625 - Neutron Stars.
- #21 - Stars grow old.
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- (4) Different names for Neutron Stars: Magnetars, Gamma Ray Bursters, Binary Neutron Stars, Gamma Ray Flares.
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----- 707-536-3272 ---------------- Saturday, August 6, 2016 -----
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