Astro Spin: Unraveling the Mystery of Rapid Astrophysical Rotation

Only black holes and neutron stars can spin hundreds of times per second, usually by accreting material from a nearby companion. The objects need to be small and dense with strong surface gravity to maintain such high spin rates. Accretion of additional matter can speed up the spin, and the spin is maintained by the weak magnetic field of millisecond pulsars, which produces predictable pulsed emissions.