04/17/2013 Quiz

1. What is a white dwarf? A white dwarf is the hot, compact corpses of low-mass stars, typically with a mass similar to that of the Sun compressed to a volume the size of Earth.
2. What can happen to a white dwarf in a close binary system? A white dwarf in a close binary system can gradually gain mass if its companion is a main-sequence or giant star.
3. What is a neutron star? A neutron star is a ball of neutrons just a few kilometers in radius but with a mass like that of the Sun.
4. How were neutron stars discovered? Neutron stars can spin rapidly and emit beams of radiation along their magnetic poles, which we detect as pulses of radiation if the beams sweep by Earth
5. What can happen to a neutron star in a close binary system? They can burst back to life.
6. Who was Jocelyn Bell? She discovered a rapidly rotating neutron star. 
7. Does she have a Nobel Prize? No
8. What were called then little green men?   The signal was pulsing with great regularity and temporarily dubbed it the Little Green Men 1.
9. Who was her thesis adviser? Antony Hewish
10. Did the thesis adviser get a Nobel Prize? Yes