Science Friday *just* had a brief discussion about neutrons stars! You can find it here:

sciencefriday.com/segments/shine-brightly-little-neutron-star/

1) Explain four new ideas or terms about neutron stars or black holes that you learned from this radio-cast.

2) What are the two possible explanations for why these neutron stars shine so brightly? (Do your best at describing what the physicist Matt Middleton tries to explain.)

3) What does physicist Matt Middleton say when the host Ira Flatow suggests that people pay more attention to black holes than less-exciting neutrons stars?

4) What, to you, was the most interesting aspect of this story?

Read the article about the interior “spaghetti” of neutron stars, that I have in class, OR read this online article from https://www.space.com/21722-nuclear-pasta-neutron-stars-matter.html

For more details and some interesting diagrams, you can check this article from astrobite https://astrobites.org/2017/10/05/nuclear-pasta-in-neutron-stars/ Oct 5, 2017.

1) Find four (4) terms or phrases you don’t recognize and attempt to define them.

2) What is “nuclear pasta”?

3) What evidence (contradictory situation) leads physicists to believe something like “pasta” exists?

4) What struck you as interesting in this article?