Orbiting a Neutron Star

This animation illustrates what the sky would look like if one were in orbit around a neutron star just above its surface. Notice the large distortion of star positions caused by the curved spacetime near the neutron star (the "squeezing" of the starfield as it rises above the horizon). In this example, a fanciful map of the Earth has been mapped to the surface of the neutron star to illustrate more clearly the motion; real neutron stars are unlikely to have these surface features! Usage: Click "Play" to begin and "Stop" to pause. "Step" moves forward one step and "Back" moves backwards one step. "Home" returns to the beginning from any point.