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pulsar

Also known as pulsating star

thumb|right|223x223px|PSR B1509−58 – [[X-rays from Chandra are gold; infrared from WISE in red, green and blue/max.]] thumb|right|Animation of a rotating pulsar. The sphere in the middle represents the neutron star, the curves indicate the magnetic field lines and the protruding cones represent the emission zones. thumb|Illustration of the "lighthouse" effect produced by a pulsar

AI overview

A pulsar is a rapidly rotating neutron star that emits beams of radiation from its magnetic poles, which sweep across space like a lighthouse beam as the star spins. Because these beams point toward Earth at regular intervals, we detect pulses of radiation, making pulsars useful cosmic tools for studying extreme physics and testing our understanding of gravity and matter.

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Wikidata facts

Image: Cycle of pulsed gamma rays from the Vela pulsar.gif

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Commons category: Pulsars
time of discovery or invention: 1967-00-00
Stack Exchange tag: physics.stackexchange.com/tags/pulsar

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via Wikidata · CC0

~28 min read

Article

21 sections

Contents

History of observation
Discovery
Milestones
Pulsar-like white dwarfs
Nomenclature
Formation, mechanism, turn off
Categories
Disrupted recycled pulsar
Applications
Maps
Pulsar navigation
Precise clocks
Probes of the interstellar medium
Probes of space-time
Gravitational wave detectors
Significant pulsars
Gallery
See also
References
Further reading
External links

A pulsar (pulsating star, on the model of quasar) is a highly magnetized rotating neutron star that emits beams of electromagnetic radiation out of its magnetic poles. This radiation can be observed only when a beam of emission is pointing toward Earth (similar to the way a lighthouse can be seen only when the light is pointed in the direction of an observer), and is responsible for the pulsed appearance of emission. Neutron stars are very dense and have short, regular rotational periods. This produces a very precise interval between pulses that ranges from milliseconds to seconds for an individual pulsar. Pulsars are one of the candidates for the source of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (see also centrifugal mechanism of acceleration).