Warp wrote:
>   Assuming a neutron star of something like 2 times the mass of the Sun,
> with no accretion disc and radio-quiet (ie. it's not a pulsar), would it
> be considerably different from orbiting a regular star?

Yes, because you'd be orbiting it several times a second, and the tides 
would rip you apart as you try to get into orbit.

That's not the point of the book. It's just cool to read the aside about how 
they make it work and such, and how they need another set of masses orbiting 
at right angles to their own orbit to counteract the tides and such. The 
description of dealing with the neutron star's gravity takes up about as 
much as the explanations of the technology on Star Trek do, but it's cool 
when it's written by someone who has (for example) actually invented 
technology for measuring gravity waves, so you can have a decent idea it 
really is how things work.

It would be like reading a cyberpunk book by Alan Turing.

>   Of course another question is whether such a "peaceful" neutron star
> can form in practice...

That too. The book, being Sci-Fi, of course, goes far past that simple 
postulate. :-)  I won't spoil it, tho.

-- 
   Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   "Ouch ouch ouch!"
   "What's wrong? Noodles too hot?"
   "No, I have Chopstick Tunnel Syndrome."

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