Austria’s Neutron Star Named “Best Silver” Coin dated 2023
Austria’s “The Neutron Star” coin won the Best Silver Coin for the Coin of the Year (COTY) awards for 2023-dated coins. The 20 Euro coin is last of the Austrian Mint’s Uncharted Universe series, which is dedicated to physical-astronomical phenomena shaped in a unique and extraordinary form.
The Neutron Star coin features a semi-sphere in its center that curves inwards on one side and outwards on the other. According to the Austrian Mint, it is designed to be a simplified representation of the unique galactic phenomenon that is the neutron star
There are approximately one billion neutron stars in the Milky Way. After black holes, neutron stars are the densest stellar objects in the universe. They are created when a massive star runs out of fuel, and its core collapses. Neutron stars got their name because their cores have such powerful gravity that most positively charged protons and negatively charged electrons in the interior of these stars combine into uncharged neutrons.
The Neutron Star coin was designed by Helmut Andexlinger of the Austrian Mint. The words “crust” and “core” are marked in German on the obverse. “Crab pulsar” is the name of a neutron star that was created from a supernova in the year 1054, while “1,4 M” refers to the neutron star’s solar mass, “30rps” to its rotation speed per second and “r~10km” to its radius.
On the reverse side of the coin, the neutron star appears through a colored imprint and a stylized representation of its magnetic field. It also includes the lettering NEUTRONENSTERN, which translates to neutron star.
The coin measures 34 mm in diameter and weighs 20.74 grams. Mintage is limited to 30,000 coins.