Pulsars, Magnetars, Black Holes (Oh My!): The Wickedly Cool Stellar Undead

The biggest stars burn the fastest and brightest, and when they die, they do so spectacularly, exploding as supernovae and leaving behind some of the most fantastic objects in the universe: neutron stars and black holes. In this public science talk recorded at James Madison University on April 17, 2014, Dr. Scott Ransom (NRAO/UVa) discussed how these crazy objects are created, some of their amazing properties and why we (probably!) don't need to worry about them too much here in our cozy homes on Earth. To learn more about our public science presentations, and to be informed, when our next ones will take place, please visit our website: http://www.jmu.edu/planetarium