Neutron stars in fiction

The idea of a super-dense star composed of neutrons was proposed in 1934, but was not popularized until the discovery of pulsars in 1967.

Uses in literature

 * Larry Niven may have been first with his short story Neutron Star, which appeared in October 1966.
 * The same neutron star plays a minor role in another Larry Niven story, Protector (1973).
 * Stephen Baxter's novel Flux (1993) features miniature humans living inside a neutron star.
 * Robert Forward's novel Dragon's Egg (1980) and its sequel Starquake (1989) center around intelligent life evolving on a neutron star.
 * Death of a Neutron Star is book 17 in a series based on Star Trek: Voyager.
 * Alastair Reynolds's novel Revelation Space (2000) features a neutron star named Hades. The star is revealed to be an alien supercomputer later in the book.
 * Jon Hundred, main character in Don de Brandt's novel Steeldriver, uses a weapon called the Hammer, made from the core of a neutron star.
 * A Neutron Star is the central feature of the Omega-41 system of the video game Freelancer. It emits strong radiation, the result of a nova that took place shortly before humanity arrived in the Sirius Sector.

Uses in films and television

 * In Star Trek: The Next Generation, an episode called Imaginary Friend  occurs while the ship is exploring a rare nebula that formed around a neutron star.
 * In Stargate SG-1, an episode called Company of Thieves has the Odyssey fighting 3 Goa'uld motherships near a neutron star.