Topic
Pulsars
3 questions tagged Pulsars — spanning every one of the seven Ws.
why
Why do pulsars send out regular flashes?
Pulsars flash because their magnetic poles are misaligned with their spin axis, so their radiation sweeps past us like a lighthouse beam. Each rotation produces a pulse if Earth lies in the beam path.
CosmologyPulsars
when
When was the first exoplanet discovered orbiting a pulsar?
In 1992, astronomers found the first known exoplanets around the pulsar PSR B1257+12.
SpacePulsars
why
Why do some stars pulse regularly like cosmic lighthouses?
Pulsars are rotating neutron stars with beams of radiation coming from their magnetic poles. As the star spins, those beams sweep past Earth and appear as regular pulses.
StarsPulsars