A group of researchers from American scientific institutions revealed that a black widow-type pulsar, designated PSR J0952-0670, set a record for being the most massive neutron star known so far, with a mass of 2.35 times more than that of the Sun (0.17 solar masses).
PSR J0952-0670, located three thousand light years away from Earth, is part of a binary cosmic system called “black widow” and because it absorbs material from its smaller stellar companion, it causes both both the mass and the speed of rotation of the neutron star increase.
Scientists determined that PSR J0952-0670 rotates at a rate of 707 times per second, making it one of the fastest rotating pulsars in the Milky Way.
Likewise, they considered that the pulsar is the densest stellar object seen from Earth, since neutrons and quarks are deposited inside its nucleus, which constitute the natural protons and neutrons.
“A high maximum mass for neutron stars suggests that it is a mixture of cores and its quarks are dissolved up and down to the core,” said Stanford University astronomer Roger Romani.
The researchers contemplate the possibility that it will become an isolated millisecond pulsar, once PSR J0952-0670 has completely devoured its star. This name is due to the fact that the pulsar will have an even faster rotation speed.
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Fuente: RT