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Astrophysics

Superficial resonance

Nature volume 423, pages 697–699 (2003)Cite this article

Neutron stars are the most poorly understood stellar objects in the Universe. But observations of X-rays emitted from one neutron star have now revealed a clue to the nature of its surface and composition.

Neutron stars are the remnants of massive stars. The density of their cores exceeds that of atomic nuclei, and they might contain exotic states of matter that are not found anywhere else in nature1. For decades astronomers have tried to 'see' the surfaces of such stars, in an effort to determine their physical properties. Space-borne telescopes have brought improved X-ray-imaging capabilities, but the first observations of neutron stars with these instruments were rather disappointing, revealing that the X-ray emission from most isolated neutron stars is remarkably featureless. But now observations of one neutron star have finally given us a glimpse of the fundamental properties of these objects: on page 725 of this issue, Bignami et al.2 describe the first physical clue to the nature of this star's X-ray emission.

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  1. Department of Astronomy and the Columbia Astrophysics Laboratory, Columbia University, New York, 10027, New York, USA

    Frits Paerels

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  1. Frits Paerels
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Correspondence to Frits Paerels.

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Paerels, F. Superficial resonance. Nature 423, 697–699 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/423697a

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