We’ve been so crazy following our own whims through the universe that we’ve neglected your questions. That ends today. It’s time to dig deep into our overflowing email box to retrieve the puzzling questions our listeners have sent in.
M80 is a globular cluster 28,000 light years away containing thousands of stars. credit: The Hubble Heritage Team (AURA/ STScI/ NASA)
This week we're going to study some of the most ancient objects in the entire Universe; globular clusters. These relics of the early Universe contain hundreds of thousands of stars, held together by their mutual gravity. Since they formed together, they give astronomers a unique way to test various theories of stellar evolution. Episode 68: Globular Clusters (14.3MB)
In the middle of this supernova remnant lies a pulsar emitting high energy x rays credit: NASA/CXC/Eureka Scientific/M.Roberts et al.
Huge stars become black holes, and small stars become white dwarfs. But medium-sized stars can become neutron stars; exotic objects that overcome the nuclear force holding protons and electrons apart. What was once the size of a star is compressed down to only a few dozen kilometres across.