Lightest neutron star pair discovered by FAST
China's FAST telescope has discovered the lightest binary neutron star system ever recorded, PSR J1856-0039. This system provides a unique laboratory for scientists to study extreme gravity and the origins of heavy elements.
Why it matters
The discovery offers new data for testing fundamental theories of gravity and understanding the life cycles of massive stars.
China's Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope, or FAST, the world's most sensitive single-dish radio telescope, has discovered a binary neutron star system with an extremely short orbital period and the lowest total mass ever recorded, providing a new laboratory for studying matter under extreme conditions, testing theories of gravity and exploring the origins of heavy elements in the universe.
The system, which contains a pulsar and is named PSR J1856-0039, completes one orbit every 2.36 hours — the second-shortest orbital period ever recorded for a binary neutron star system — and has a combined mass of 2.488 times that of the sun. It is the lightest binary neutron star system confirmed to date, according to findings recently published in the journal Physical Review Letters, which selected the study as an editors' highlight.
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