Artist impression of the pulse from a massive neutron star being delayed by the passage of a white dwarf star between the neutron star and Earth. Image: BSaxton, NRAO/AUI/NSF
This record-breaking object is teetering on the edge of existence, approaching the theoretical maximum mass possible for a neutron star. “Neutron stars are as mysterious as they are fascinating,” said Thankful Cromartie, a graduate student at the University of Virginia and Grote Reber doctoral fellow at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Charlottesville, Virginia. “These city-sized objects are essentially ginormous atomic nuclei. They are so massive that their interiors take on weird properties. Finding the maximum mass that physics and nature will allow can teach us a great deal about this otherwise inaccessible realm in astrophysics.”
Read more at the NRAO website.