Located some 18,000 light-years away in the globular cluster Terzan 5, this pulsar is a testament to the extreme physics that governs the cosmos.
What is a Neutron Star?
To understand this object's incredible speed, one must first understand what it is. Neutron stars are the super-dense, collapsed cores left behind after massive stars explode in a supernova. They are among the most extreme objects in the universe, so dense that a single teaspoon of their material would weigh more than all the mountains on Earth combined.
When a massive, spinning star collapses, its rotational speed increases dramatically due to the conservation of angular momentum—the same principle that causes an ice skater to spin faster when they pull their arms in. In the case of this pulsar, the result is a cosmic blur of almost unimaginable velocity. Its surface at the equator is estimated to be moving at nearly a quarter of the speed of light.
Life on the Edge of Destruction
Despite its immense mass (likely up to twice that of our Sun), PSR J1748-2446ad is only about 20 kilometers (12 miles) in diameter. The forces at its equator are so extreme that it is spinning at the very theoretical limit of its existence. Scientists calculate that if it were to spin just slightly faster, the immense centrifugal force would overcome its own powerful gravity and tear the star apart.
The star's incredible velocity demonstrates the raw, extreme physics that emerges when matter is crushed to its absolute limits. Studying objects like this allows astronomers to test the boundaries of our understanding of gravity, nuclear physics, and the fundamental nature of matter itself. It is a natural laboratory for conditions that are impossible to replicate on Earth.
This discovery reminds us that the universe is filled with objects whose properties push beyond the limits of our everyday experience, governed by the same fundamental laws of physics but scaled to an awe-inspiring, cosmic extreme.
Sources: NASA, European Southern Observatory (ESO), ScienceAlert.