Nov 6 2002
From The Space Library
Scientists obtained the first measurements ever taken of the dimensions and compositional matter of a neutron star, providing important new information about the fundamental nature of matter and energy. Using ESA's XMM-Newton space telescope, Jean Cottam of NASA's GSFC and other researchers captured the first measurements of the gravitational redshift of a neutron star. Gravitational redshift occurs when an intense gravitational field such as that of a neutron star warps light or other electromagnetic radiation. Thus, by calculating the star's redshift, the scientists were able to estimate its gravity, compositional material, and other characteristics. The researchers found that the star EXO 0748-676 is likely composed of normal nuclear matter, as scientists had previously theorized. The researchers' observations regarding neutron stars, specifically, and matter and energy, generally, occurred under conditions that scientists are unable to replicate on Earth. The researchers thought that the findings might reveal new information about the creation of the universe, because, theoretically, the temperature and pressure of neutron stars is similar to the temperature and pressure that was present just one second after the Big Bang. (ESA, “XMM-Newton Closes In on Space's Exotic Matter,” ESA news release 69-2002, 6 November 2002, http://www.esa.int/esaCP/ESAK117708D_index_0.html (accessed 2 February 2010); NASA, “Exotic Innards of a Neutron Star Revealed in a Series of Explosions,” news release 02-2 14, 6 November 2002; Jean Cottam, Frederik Paerels, and Mariano Mendez, “Gravitationally Redshifted Absorption Lines in the X-ray Burst Spectra of a Neutron Star,” Nature 420, no. 6911 (7 November 2002): 5 1-54.)
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