THE SEARCH FOR ANCIENT NEUTRON-STARS

Over the course of its 10 billion year history, our Galaxy is believed to be populated by as many as a billion neutron stars - superdense re mnants born after the violent deaths of stars much more massive than o ur Sun. Studying the older members of this population - the vast major ity - is key to understanding the long-term evolution of these objects and their role in the chemical enrichment of our Galaxy. Positively d etecting these objects, however, has proved to be extremely challengin g, primarily due to their extreme faintness. Candidates exist at prese nt, but number far fewer than originally expected.