Artist's impression of the pulsar PSR J0348+0432 and its white dwarf companion

This video is an artist's impression of an exotic double object that consists of a tiny, but very heavy neutron star that spins 25 times each second, orbited every two and a half hours by a white dwarf star. The neutron star is a pulsar named PSR J0348+0432 that is giving off radio waves that can be picked up on Earth by radio telescopes. Although this unusual pair is very interesting in its own right it is also a unique laboratory for testing the limits of physical theories.

This system is radiating gravitational radiation, ripples in spacetime. Although these waves cannot be yet detected directly by astronomers on Earth they can be detected indirectly by measuring the change in the orbit of the system as it loses energy.

As the pulsar is so small the relative sizes of the two objects are not drawn to scale, and the timescales are not realistic.

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Credit:
ESO/L. Calçada

[dubeymanu]

Located 7, 000 light years away, the neutron star has twice the mass of our sun — but it’s only 20 km across. This means that its surface gravity is 300 billion times stronger than Earth’s, and that each cubic centimeter of the neutron star contains more than a billion tons of matter.
What’s more, this way heavy neutron star — the remnant of a mass accretion supernova explosion — spins around 25 times every second, and a lingering white dwarf star rapidly orbits around it once every 2.46 hours.

[JimHendrickson]

The white dwarf likely has enough mass to send the neutron star "over the edge, " collapsing it into a black hole. It may also result in a GRB.

[FearedAudacity]

'And this is where babies come from'

[Lastindependentthinker]

This makes perfect sense to me. I have often thought that as an object approached the speed of light that space/time would not be able to compensate for it's position infront fast enough. like a boat in water, but I don't think it would gather up at the front until you were travelling faster than light. Also it says to me that 3 dimensional space/time is a tangible thing that can be manipulated. shame this vid wasn't showing the stars distortions in 3 dimensions instead of 2.

[stanytzabillen]

I think Sirius A will become red supergiant then pulsar Sirius B (white dwarf) will collide with Sirius A (pulsar) as same thid video When Sirius A explode supernova on earth can see it's very lighter

[Flounderhouse]

In Soviet Russia pulsar orbits white dwarf!