Neutron stars turned out to be smooth spheres, making them harder to track.

Neutron stars are among the densest objects in the Universe: they weigh about the same as

The sun, but are only about 10 km across. Because of their compactness, neutron stars have an enormous gravitational pull, about a billion times stronger than Earth.

Many neutron stars have extremelyhigh speed of axial rotation - up to several hundred revolutions per second. According to modern concepts, neutron stars arise as a result of supernova explosions.

The question of what neutron stars look like has been worrying scientists for a long time, since their surface determines how intensely gravitational waves will be generated. 

British astrophysicists useddata from the LIGO and ViRGO gravitational observatories to create a new computer model of the interior of a neutron star, which allowed them to accurately measure the maximum possible height of the bumps on the surface of this type of star.

Our calculations show that neutron starsare almost perfectly spherical objects. In addition, they indicate that the gravitational waves they generate will be even harder to detect than we thought in the past. 

Fabian Gittins, Research Fellow, University of Southampton

This will significantly complicate the search for neutron stars based on the oscillations of space-time generated by them, the researchers concluded.

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