Posted: Sat Jun 24, 2006 1:23 pm
Harry,
I am still having major conceptual problems with the sun having a neutron star at its core:
1. Neutron stars range from a substantial fraction of a solar mass, up to a few solar masses. Of course, our sun is only one solar mass, so the neutron star must be surrounded by a large, fairly tenuous atmosphere of the hydrogen and helium that we actually observe. However, given the expected gravity - mass - pressure gradient, from the photosphere on down, the sun is not exactly tenuous. If it was more tenuous, lots more radiation would escape directly, without need for the massive convection systems that appear to be transporting heat from the interior. There seems to be a lot of rather dense hydrogen there.
2. A neutron star would be throwing out lots of extra high energy radiation, not just the overwhelmingly UV and visible light we get now.
3. There is no need for any additional energy source. Hydrogen fusion given the mass of the sun is sufficient to provide observed solar output.
4. A neutron star would be sucking in and collapsing the surrounding blanket of hydrogen at a frightful rate, resulting in repeated nova events and rapid variations of output on a much shorter than geological timescale. This would probably be observable due to variations in output or radiation character even on a short time frame.
5. If the sun were not main sequence stable over a geological timescale, earth would be uninhabitable, life would not exist, inner planets might not even exist in stable forms, etc.
Please elaborate.
I am still having major conceptual problems with the sun having a neutron star at its core:
1. Neutron stars range from a substantial fraction of a solar mass, up to a few solar masses. Of course, our sun is only one solar mass, so the neutron star must be surrounded by a large, fairly tenuous atmosphere of the hydrogen and helium that we actually observe. However, given the expected gravity - mass - pressure gradient, from the photosphere on down, the sun is not exactly tenuous. If it was more tenuous, lots more radiation would escape directly, without need for the massive convection systems that appear to be transporting heat from the interior. There seems to be a lot of rather dense hydrogen there.
2. A neutron star would be throwing out lots of extra high energy radiation, not just the overwhelmingly UV and visible light we get now.
3. There is no need for any additional energy source. Hydrogen fusion given the mass of the sun is sufficient to provide observed solar output.
4. A neutron star would be sucking in and collapsing the surrounding blanket of hydrogen at a frightful rate, resulting in repeated nova events and rapid variations of output on a much shorter than geological timescale. This would probably be observable due to variations in output or radiation character even on a short time frame.
5. If the sun were not main sequence stable over a geological timescale, earth would be uninhabitable, life would not exist, inner planets might not even exist in stable forms, etc.
Please elaborate.