The Spinning Fiery Death Machine: Blender

http://www.astronomy.com/magazine/weirdest-objects/2015/05/31-neutron-star-psr-j17482246

Hello my lovelies! How is everyone? Having a good day? Well sit your silly selves down it's time to expand the horizons of your mind! (Truly I am the master of metaphors). Let's start this show off with a bang! Not to steal Star Trek’s thunder but “Space, Space is the final frontier” (don’t you fellow Trekkies just get the butterflies when you get hit with that nostalgia??). Now look at me, alright? We don’t know a lot about space. There I said it! Are we honestly surprised? We hardly know anything about what lives in our Oceans; if we don’t even know that much it's not really a surprise that we know next to nothing about space. Now before you die hard space lovers star raging down in the comments (Please put the pitchforks down! I bruise easy!), I will say this there is quite a bit we know about space. But the fact of the matter is young padawans is that Space is so freaking big we just don't know its limits. Now that the pitchforks and torches have been put away lets get down to business (~to defeat the huns~~~ sorry, sorry. That song is just way too catchy.) The object that will be under the microscope (not literally!) is the Neutron Star named PSR J1748-2446. (I really don’t get why all these cool things in space have such terrible names. The names of these objects is just sad honestly, they should fire the guy who names these objects.) Since the name of this Star is absolutely terrible and unpronounceable I will be calling it Blender until the end of time. (Fight me NASA). 

(So yeah there wasn't really any pictures of Blender so....you get to see my masterful artist's rendition!)

Alright time for the facts. So our boy Blender here is a Neutron Star (Calm down, I’ll explain everything in a sec! Just sit there and chill) and it is over 28,000 light years away from Earth (Finley 2006). To give that number context if you somehow managed to achieve the speed of light (Oh you special person you) it would take you 28,000 years to get to Blender...so I guess being able to move at the speed of light is useless unless you have immortality...Welp! Looks like you’ve got some work to do! Another fast fact is that Blender hangs out in the Sagittarius constellation, (I see that the Astrology people are looking interested now.)(Finley 2006).

(Ah yes Blender and Sagittarius the Best-est Friends in the Universe!)

Since I think I have already lost a few of you I’m gonna explain what a Neutron Star is before your heads explode (Don’t worry I gotchu fam.) So do we all remember our old friend the old angry grampas who sometimes explode of the universe the Supernovae? We do? Great! Well a Neutron Star can be another thing that can be formed from a Supernova exploding (Like how our BFF the Orion Nebula was made!) (McKee 2006). Also hey wanna hear something terrifying? Oh who am I kidding, of course you do! Another thing the explosion can create is a freaking Black hole. Yes you read that right, the same thing that creates our BFF Orion and our new Pal Blender is the same thing that can create the universe devouring Black Hole! (Isn’t that just lovely?). But don’t worry a Neutron Star isn’t nearly as dangerous, I mean in comparison to a Black Hole a Nuclear Bomb doesn't seem all that dangerous….Awkward...Moving on! The Neutron Star is created from the leftover neutrons from the Star exploding (I mean it’s kind of a given. It is called a NEUTRON Star, not a Hydrogen Star or a Proton Star but a Neutron Star.) (Mckee). Another fun party trick a Neutron Star can do is send out radio waves and it also spins which gives it the name Pulsar! (See isn’t that fun?!?! No death space holes here, no siree!) (Mckee 2006). So basically a Neutron Star is made from an insane explosion and forms itself from the carcass of its parent( Isn't that just lovely?).

(In all honesty I've never seen the movie but if the shoe fits...)

Ok so next question I’m sure you’re wondering. Why the heck should I care about Blender? Well how nice of you to ask, let me tell you why my friend! Our buddy Blender was the fastest spinning Pulsar in space, that's why we should care sillies (Sadly Ole Blendy lost it’s crown to another Pulsar, so  the King has fallen…)(Berman 2015). Blender is honestly crazy. Now I know I call a lot of things crazy but when I say its crazy you bet your bedazzled sparkly butt that I mean it. Blender spins at 716 hrtz (Finley). So that just basically means it spins 716 times in a single second. For example the fastest kitchen blenders spin at 200 to 500 times per second, just let that sink in (Finley 2006). The thing that can pulverize your food into dust in a mere few seconds doesn’t even hold a candle to Blender. That’s just terrifying, no jokes I legit wouldn’t go to Blender even if someone paid me. I mean if you tired to go near Blender you would be blended into nothingness so I wouldn’t suggest booking your next family vacation there. So congrats! You now know why I call Blender Blender. So you would think a terrifying creature such as Blender would be unimaginably huge...well throw that expectation out the window because Blender is only about 20 miles in diameter (Finley 2006).

(At least Icarus didn't get blended for flying to close to the Sun.)

 
There a good reason it's so small though and that’s because if it were any bigger the natural spin of the Star would cause it to tear itself apart...yeah not fun...(Finley 2006). Let’s hear some more fun facts for the lovely people who are still here! (Hey Professor! Hope the Day is going well! Hey Family!) So the surface of Blender is so dense that it is harder than diamond, you know the densest object on the planet (Berman 2015)? I know what you’re thinking “But Stars are made of gas and plasma??? How can this be???” now for the none of you who asked this question I will answer this. Because of the density of the neutrons on the star and the spin of the star it has its own gravity that pulls everything inwards and that’s why it’s dense (So you guys can calm down now, see I didn’t pull the rug out from under you!). Say you went insane and wanted to stand on a freaking Star you wouldn’t be able to because its a spinning fiery death machine. (Sorry if I just crushed anyone’s dreams but come on people wake up it's a Star! But that doesn’t stop you from doing it I guess so go live out your crazy dreams!) (Disclaimer: ROBEA does not condone the act of going near nor on the surface of a star. Also puppies are adorable, thank you.) Blender has a density that is about 50 million times that of lead (Berman 2015). That's insane, how do you even comprehend Blender? (Just like how I can’t comprehend simple magic tricks. I don’t get it! How did Shawn pull a quarter from behind my ear??????).  Space just doesn’t make sense in general, everytime we think we understand it another crazy discovery shows up and hits us over the head.
You know what we don’t have enough of? More facts on Blender, lets go! Speed Round! Blender has what is called a sister companion star that orbits around it every 26 hours (Finley 2006) (Yes even stars can’t escape the hovering of a sister. I don’t have a blanket problem Katey! You have a problem, not me!) Just like sisters from Tv shows, the sister star causes a lot of issues for everyone. Whenever Scientists want to observe Blender they can’t because the sister star shines so bright that Blender can only be seen 40% of the time (Poor Blender needs to move out of its house or something.) (Mckee). Not to be mean to the sister star but many Scientists find it super annoying to deal with because it’s very existence prevents us from learning Blender’s actual size. We can make guesses all we want but that freaking sister star is in the way (Let Blender have the spot light for once!). 

(Blender's Sister Star once again stealing the show for no reason)

Too wrap up this horse and pony show our bro Blender is just another example how fascinating our universe is. I mean come on people its a spinning fiery death machine, what more could you want in a star?! Ok, Ok I’m done. I can see that some of you actually fell asleep this time (Wake up Johnathan! And don’t think I don’t see you Sarah!). Ahem, anyways I’ll set you free. Go my young pawadwans, be free! Toodaloo everyone!!!

Works Cited

Berman, B. (2015, May 29). Weird Object: Neutron Star PSR J1748-2446. Retrieved October 5, 2018, from http://www.astronomy.com/magazine/weirdest-objects/2015/05/31-neutron-star-psr-j17482246

McKee, M. (2006, January 12). Fast-spinning neutron star smashes speed limit. Retrieved October 5, 2018, from https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn8576-fast-spinning-neutron-star-smashes-speed-limit/

Finley, D. (2006, January 12). Astronomers Discover Fastest-Spinning Pulsar. Retrieved October 5, 2018, from https://www.nrao.edu/pr/2006/mspulsar/