WHAT IS A STARQUAKE?

Neutron stars can suffer quakes far more powerful than anything on Earth

- ANDREW MAY

Earthquakes are caused by sudden disruption or movement of the planet's solid crust. Similar events are known to occur on other rocky worlds such as the Moon and Mars – but what about more massive astronomical bodies, such as stars? The exact counterpart of an earthquake can't happen on an ordinary star like the Sun, because it doesn't have a solid crust – it's basically a huge ball of hot gas. On the other hand, some ‘dead’ stars collapse down to very small, dense objects called neutron stars, which are solid rather than gaseous. Such objects can experience earthquake-like events – called starquakes – that are so powerful we can observe them here on Earth from thousands of light years away.