Population and Distances
At present, there are about 2000 known neutron stars in the Milky Way and the Magellanic Clouds, the majority of which have been detected as radio pulsars. The population of neutron stars is concentrated along the disk of the Milky Way although the spread perpendicular to the disk is fairly large. The reason for this spread is due to the asymmetry of the supernova explosion process, which can impart high speeds (400 km/s) to the newly created neutron star. One of the closest known neutron stars is PSR J0108-1431 at a distance of about 130 parsecs (or 424 light years). Another nearby neutron star that was detected transiting the backdrop of the constellation Ursa Minor has been catalogued as 1RXS J141256.0+792204. This rapidly moving object, nicknamed by its Canadian and American discoverers "Calvera", was discovered using the ROSAT/Bright Source Catalog. Initial measurements placed its distance from earth at 200 to 1,000 light years away, with later claims at about 450 light-years.
Read more about this topic: Neutron Star
Famous quotes containing the words population and/or distances:
“O for a man who is a man, and, as my neighbor says, has a bone in his back which you cannot pass your hand through! Our statistics are at fault: the population has been returned too large. How many men are there to a square thousand miles in this country? Hardly one.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“I was surprised by Joe’s asking me how far it was to the Moosehorn. He was pretty well acquainted with this stream, but he had noticed that I was curious about distances, and had several maps. He and Indians generally, with whom I have talked, are not able to describe dimensions or distances in our measures with any accuracy. He could tell, perhaps, at what time we should arrive, but not how far it was.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)