  The Rutherford planetary model of a proton-electron atom is modified. Besides
the Coulomb interaction of the point electron with the proton, its strong
Coulomb interaction with the physical vacuum as well as the magnetic
interaction between moving charges are taken into account. The vacuum
interaction leads to the motion of the electron with the velocity of light
\textit{c} in the circle with the radius being equal to the so-called classical
electron radius $r_e$. Therefore, the velocity of the electron consists of two
components: the velocity $\vec{\upsilon}$ of the mechanical motion and the
velocity $\vec{c}$ of the photon-like motion. We postulate that
$\vec{\upsilon}\bot \vec{c}$, and $\upsilon < c $. Hence, the electron inside
the atom moves with the resulting faster-than-light velocity. The existence of
two types of proton-electron atoms, the hydrogen atom and the neutron, is
interpreted by the different motion and interaction of particles at large ($ r
>> r_e $) and short ($ r < r_e $) distances. In the first atom, the effect of
photon-like motion is small, and the electron moves around the proton with the
velocity $\upsilon << c$ in an orbit of the radius $ r>>r_{e}$. In the second
atom, the photon-like motion is the determining factor, and the electron moves
around the proton with the faster-than-light velocity in an orbit of the radius
$r < r_{e}$. The calculated ground-state properties of the free hydrogen atom
and the free neutron are in good agreement with the experimental data. The
properties of these atoms in extremely strong magnetic fields ($B >> 10^8 T$)
that are typical for neutron stars are discussed.
