The Fantastic Four

 

 

 

"There are more strange and wonderful things in the heavens than one could even imagine" 

Relax - this is not about the Fantastic Four from Marvel Comics. This is however, all about power and energy - and lots of it. Every star in the cosmos, of which there are billions, maybe trillions, has unimaginable power. As a star goes through its life cycle, it is caught in a virtual tug of war between gravity, trying to collapse itself, and nuclear fusion, which is trying to blow itself apart. The result - a delicate balancing act that results in a star giving off heat and light for millions of years. However, all good things must come to an end - and that is what this is all about.

Stars do not often go into the night quietly. On the contrary, when a dying star explodes, it can result in a super nova. The explosion from a super nova gives off so much light, it can be seen across the universe. Not only does a dying star give off unbelievable light, but often times it is accompanied by a deadly gamma ray burst (GRB). Without a doubt, a GRB is one of the most deadly events known to man. If your planet happens to be in the wrong neighborhood at the wrong time, a GRB will wipe out every living thing. In fact, some scientists believe the Earth was hit by a "glancing blow" from a GRB in 775 A.D. How do we know it was only glancing? If it had been a direct hit, none of us would be there right now. Earth would be a dead world.

Once a star loses its nuclear furnace and gravity wins the battle, a new star is often reborn with gravity so strong it can barely be described or understood. These reborn stars will then become either a Neutron, Pulsar, Magnetar or a Black Hole. 

Neutron Star -  Once a star goes through a supernova event, it will collapse into a stellar remnant of  its former self. It gets it name from the fact it is composed almost entirely of neutrons. Neutron Stars actually exert a tremendous amount of gravity for as small as they have become - about 15 miles in diameter. How much gravity? If a person stood on the surface of a neutron star, that person would feel about 200 Billion times heavier than on Earth.

Pulsar Star - A Pulsar Star is similar to a Neutron Star as they both rotate, and after collapse, Pulsars becomes highly magnetized and very dense. Due to their density and fast rotation, Pulsars are able to discharge enormous amounts of EM energy at regular intervals. Like Neutrons, their size is about 15 miles in diameter and they have a density 1.5 times of our sun. The material collapse is so complete, one teaspoon of material taken from a Pulsar Star weights millions of pounds. Pulsars and Neutrons spin very fast - some have been recorded spinning as fast as one rotation per second. Eventually Pulsars start running out of energy and stop pulsating. They then become ordinary Neutron Stars. Since their discovery in 1967, Pulsars have become very useful to astronomers as "beacons" in the cosmos.

Magnetar Stars - Now is where we go from the strange to the very strange. Like Pulsars, A Magnetar is also a Neutron Star. However, it is a Neutron Star with a magnetic field one quadrillion times that of Earth That is one giant magnet in the cosmos! How scary are these things? Eight years ago, Earth felt the effects of "star quake" from a Magnetar Star.  This quake was so strong, it would have registered 25 on a Richter Scale back on Earth. This star is located halfway across the Milky Way - about 50,000 light years from Earth. Even at that distance, the effects of this quake had profound effects here on Earth. At that huge distance, it still managed to fry some satellites and physically affect the Earth. It was so bright, some satellites actually saw it reflected off the surface of the Moon. If this Magnetar had been closer to Earth, the effects of this quake would have been catastrophic for life on this planet. Pound for pound, Magnetars may be the most dangerous thing in the cosmos. The only good news with these magnet stars is a very short shelf life (about 10,000 years). Once they run out of enough energy, they become just a Neutron Star. 

Black Holes - My favorite scientist, Dr. Michio Kaku has said that Black Holes both fascinate and frustrate astronomers. They are fascinating because of their uniqueness - they are frustrating because everything one has learned about physics is thrown out the window. A Black Hole is similar to a Neutron Star with one exception - it is much denser. Where a Neutron Star has a density 1.4 time that of our sun, a Black Hole is over 3 times the sun's density. The result of this extra density is gravity so strong, not even light can escape (thus the name). What I like about Black Holes is the mystery and conjecture which surround them. Because science no longer applies when the Event Horizon (point of no return) is crossed, many theories have come to light. Some think Black Holes are a tunnel to an alternate universe. Others believe they have unlimited capacity to compress matter they can trap. Some even believe they will be the instruments of our demise. In other words, rather than instant inflation of the universe during from the "Big Bang", Black Holes will become powerful enough to cause deflation. In any event, we know basically nothing about these things and have much, much to learn.

There they are. The fantastic four. They are fun to learn about, fun to study. Who knows? In a hundred years, we might discover one or two more oddities to be added to this list. The more we learn, the more we find out we don't know.