These stellar beasts, made mostly of neutrons, are basically ultra-dense cosmic corpses roaming around space and, with incomprehensibly strong gravitational fields, torturing everything in their paths.
They're like the baby brothers of black holes. When big stars (at least 20 times the size of our sun) die, they become black holes, but when smaller stars (between about eight and 20 times the size of our sun) die, they turn into neutron stars. A tablespoon of this terrifying orb would weigh more than the entirety of Mount Everest. You get the point.
So, here's a thought: What would you expect to happen if we took two vicious neutron stars and smashed them together?
Well, I'd argue, anything except what scientists just observed.
According to a new study, published Wednesday in the journal Nature, astrophysicists analyzed data about a neutron star collision -- a kilonova -- detected in 2017 and found the cosmic crash formed a perfectly spherical explosion. That was unexpected.
Astronomers Say This Neutron Star Explosion Was Perfect. Too Perfect
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