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Neutron stars contain more than a solar mass within a 10-15 km radius. These superdense stars provide excellent opportunities to probe extreme aspects of physics, such as strong gravity, high magnetic field, accretion mechanism, high-density degenerate matter, and continuous gravitational waves, which cannot be studied in terrestrial laboratories. However, while gravitational waves, which are 'ripples' in space-time, have recently been detected from short-lived merger phenomena of black holes and neutron stars, continuous gravitational waves remain elusive. Nevertheless, such waves could be inferred from spin down rates of neutron stars. Here, we will show, using multi-wavelength observations, that the neutron star PSR J1023+0038 should have a permanent ellipticity and hence emits gravitational waves continuously. |