What is Pulsar ?

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A pulsar is a neutron star that spins rapidly, beaming out regular pulses of radio waves — rather like an invisible cosmic lighthouse.

The first pulsar was detected by a Cambridge astronomer called Jocelyn Bell Burnell in 1967.

At first astronomers thought the regular pulses might be signals from aliens, and pulsars were jokingly called LGMs (short for Little Green Men).

Most pulsars send their radio pulse about once a second. The slowest pulse only every four seconds and the fastest every 1.6 milliseconds.

The pulse rate of a pulsar slows down as it gets older.

The Crab pulsar slows by a millionth each day.

More than 650 pulsars are now known, but there may be 100,000 active in our galaxy.

Pulsars probably result from a supernova explosion — that is why most are found in the flat disc of the Milky Way, where supernovae occur.

They are what is known as the “lighthouses” of the universe – rotating neutron stars that emit a focused beam of electromagnetic radiation that is only visible if you’re standing in it’s path.

Pulsars are not found in the same place as supernovae because they form after the debris from the explosion has spread into space.

Known as pulsars, these stellar relics get their name because of the way their emissions appear to be “pulsating” out into space.

We know they come from tiny neutron stars often less than 10 km across, because they pulse so fast.

Not only are these ancient stellar objects very fascinating and awesome to behold, they are very useful to astronomers as well.

The Crab nebula contains a pulsar also known as NP0532. It is the youngest pulsar yet discovered and it probably formed after the supernova explosion seen in the Crab nebula in AD 1054. It has a rotation period of 76 0.0331 seconds, but it is gradually slowing down.

This is due to the fact that they have regular rotational periods, which produces a very precise internal in its pulses – ranging from milliseconds to seconds.

Pulsars are types of neutron stars; the dead relics of massive stars. What sets pulsars apart from regular neutron stars is that they’re highly magnetized, and rotating at enormous speeds.

Astronomers detect them by the radio pulses they emit at regular intervals.

The formation of a pulsar is very similar to the creation of a neutron star. When a massive star with 4 to 8 times the mass of our Sun dies, it detonates as a supernova.

Pulsar, in astronomy, a neutron star that emits brief, sharp pulses of energy instead of the steady radiation associated with other natural sources. The study of pulsars began when Antony Hewish and his students at Cambridge built a primitive radio telescope to study a scintillation effect on radio sources caused by clouds of electrons in the solar wind.

The outer layers are blasted off into space, and the inner core contracts down with its gravity.

Because this telescope was specially designed to record rapid variations in signals, in 1967 it readily recorded a signal from a totally unexpected source.

The gravitational pressure is so strong that it overcomes the bonds that keep atoms apart.

Jocelyn Bell Burnell noticed a strong scintillation effect opposite the sun, where the effect should have been weak. After an improved recorder was installed, the signals were received again as a series of sharp pulses with intervals of about a second.

Electrons and protons are crushed together by gravity to form neutrons. The gravity on the surface of a neutron star is about 2 x 1011 the force of gravity on Earth. So, the most massive stars detonate as supernovae, and can explode or collapse into black holes.