The galaxy's heaviest neutron star is feeding on a dying companion
In short: Meet pulsar J0952-0607, a celestial object spinning hundreds of times faster than a helicopter's blades. This video explains how it is currently consuming a nearby white dwarf, creating a high-stakes cosmic balance that could lead to a black hole.
Pulsar J0952-0607 is the heaviest neutron star ever discovered, possessing a mass nearly 2.5 times that of our Sun. Despite this weight, it is incredibly compact, small enough to fit within the boundaries of New York City. It rotates at a staggering 707 revolutions per second, a speed that exceeds that of aircraft turbines or kitchen blenders.
The pulsar is currently in a destructive relationship with a nearby white dwarf. The pulsar's intense gravity and radiation strip matter from the white dwarf, turning it into a stream of superheated plasma. As the pulsar absorbs this material to fuel its rotation, the white dwarf is effectively evaporating. However, this feeding process is risky: if the pulsar accumulates enough mass to reach a critical limit, it may collapse into a black hole.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: The Most Dangerous Star in Our Galaxy Could Explode Any Minute — Should We Be Worried?
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