Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Astronomers Find Mass Limit for Neutron Stars Before Collapsing Into Black Holes
www.popularmechanics.com ^ | 01/19/2018 | By John Wenz

Posted on 01/19/2018 1:38:43 PM PST by Red Badger

click here to read article


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-39 next last

1 posted on 01/19/2018 1:38:43 PM PST by Red Badger
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

Lots of wild claims represented as facts. Settled science or more mathemagic?
Let’s see them put their hypothesis to a falsifiable test.


2 posted on 01/19/2018 1:44:14 PM PST by Zuse (I am disrupted! I am offended! I am insulted! I am outraged!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

I thought the existence of black holes was in doubt.


3 posted on 01/19/2018 1:46:13 PM PST by dsc (Any attempt to move a government to the left is a crime against humanity.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dsc

http://www.popularmechanics.com/space/deep-space/a15062681/how-do-we-know-black-holes-even-exist/


4 posted on 01/19/2018 1:49:55 PM PST by Red Badger (Wanna surprise? Google your own name. Wanna have fun? Google your friends names......)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

“It created ripples in the fabric of space-time”

Well, get out the old space-time iron and iron it down.

Maybe a little starch would help.


5 posted on 01/19/2018 1:55:02 PM PST by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

What is the mass limit of crappy countries before they become shitholes?


6 posted on 01/19/2018 1:59:57 PM PST by lump in the melting pot (Half-brother is Watching You!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

Okay. Apparently some people are trying to raise some doubt.

As a non-astrophystican, I just watch from the wings.

Still miss that old star field screensaver, though.


7 posted on 01/19/2018 2:02:58 PM PST by dsc (Any attempt to move a government to the left is a crime against humanity.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: lump in the melting pot

1 socialist/communist dictator................


8 posted on 01/19/2018 2:02:59 PM PST by Red Badger (Wanna surprise? Google your own name. Wanna have fun? Google your friends names......)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: dsc

There are some significant questions. One possibility is that a star core collapses to form a black hole so there is an event horizon, but the core is not compacted into zero size. Instead, the core collapses to Planck density (10^96 grams/cm^3) and then rebounds. However, time dilation is so severe near the collapsed core that to an outsider the rebound occurs very slowly. Indeed, the black hole looks stable. You can read about this in several articles on the net about Planck stars. You can also read about quark stars and strange stars that are intermediates between neutron stars and black holes. Some pretty mind blowing stuff there...


9 posted on 01/19/2018 2:04:07 PM PST by 17th Miss Regt
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Zuse

Figures don’t lie, but liars figure.


10 posted on 01/19/2018 2:07:45 PM PST by Ciaphas Cain (Liberalism, as with all else evil, can never create. It can only corrupt.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: dsc

I doubt that they exist, so its settled.


11 posted on 01/19/2018 2:10:06 PM PST by Delta 21 (Build The Wall !! Jail The Cankle !!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: lump in the melting pot

2.16 Obamas.


12 posted on 01/19/2018 2:10:08 PM PST by PTBAA
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Delta 21

“I doubt that they exist, so its settled.”

Oh, well, I didn’t realize.


13 posted on 01/19/2018 2:13:37 PM PST by dsc (Any attempt to move a government to the left is a crime against humanity.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: 17th Miss Regt
So what is a black hole composed of? Is it still essentially neutronium, but with sufficient gravity that it has an event horizon? Or does the matter become so compressed that it becomes "something else?"
14 posted on 01/19/2018 2:17:10 PM PST by henkster
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

CNN: Physics fat shames Neutron Stars into massive weight loss until they become a racist term.


15 posted on 01/19/2018 2:25:18 PM PST by VanDeKoik
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dsc

These space articles give the reader quite a bit of license, dont you think?


16 posted on 01/19/2018 2:29:19 PM PST by Delta 21 (Build The Wall !! Jail The Cankle !!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

This whole article is blatant white-privilege racism using the excuse of “...light not being able to be observed...” as a reason to call a hole in space-time a “black” hole.


17 posted on 01/19/2018 2:32:02 PM PST by SuperLuminal (Where is another agitator for republicanism like Sam Adams when we need him?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger
Most neutron stars are between one and two solar masses.

In a sphere about 12 miles across. These are some of the most fascinating objects in the universe.

I wonder, if you could ever get close enough to even see one, before this happens:

A Neutron Star Is Not Your Friend

18 posted on 01/19/2018 2:42:22 PM PST by Drew68
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: henkster
Is it still essentially neutronium, but with sufficient gravity that it has an event horizon? Or does the matter become so compressed that it becomes "something else?"

It becomes something else. The neutrons are smooshed together in the collapse.

19 posted on 01/19/2018 2:43:59 PM PST by 17th Miss Regt
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: Zuse
I wouldn't trust anything on this subject from Popular Mechanics. The statement, "But astrophysicists have struggled to find out exactly what variations cause a large star to compress into a dense stellar remnant, a neutron star, rather than the inescapable void of matter-eating fury that is a black hole. According to the Goethe researchers, the difference is simple: 2.16 solar masses."

It's been known since the 1930s that it's totally dependent on mass, that's not something that was discovered last week. An older book I have that talks about the mathematical derivations (doesn't actually show the math but explains it) says that up to 1.4 solar masses, your star will become a white dwarf. (This is the Chandrasekhar Limit, named after an Indian astrophysicist who derived it it 1930.) From 1.4-3.3 solar masses, your star will become a neutron star. From 3.3 solar masses on, your star will become a black hole. Maybe the difference between the 3.3 and 2.16 solar masses is that 3.3 is for a normally shining star and the 2.16 is after it has exploded in a supernova and blown off some material.

Bottom line: conceptually, there's nothing new here except for a few numbers that are suspect. Must be a slow day at Popular Mechanics. The title Astronomers Find Mass Limit for Neutron Stars Before Collapsing Into Black Holes is a complete crock, this number was known back in the 1930s and was refined in the 1960s when calculating differential equations and integrals with computers became a lot better. These scientists may have tightened up some of the numbers using some new methods but they discovered something new? No, that's a total crock.

20 posted on 01/19/2018 2:45:45 PM PST by Excuse_My_Bellicosity (Liberalism is a social disease.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-39 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson