We start with a brief introduction to the historical background in the early pioneering days when the first neutron star thermal evolution calculations predicted the presence of neutron stars hot enough to be observable. We then report on the first detection of neutron star temperatures by ROSAT X-ray satellite, which vindicated the earlier prediction of hot neutron stars. We proceed to present subsequent developments, both in theory and observation, up to today. We then discuss the current status and the future prospect, which will offer useful insight to the understanding of basic properties of ultra-high density matter beyond the nuclear density, such as the possible presence of such exotic particles as pion condensates.
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