• Question: what do pulzar stars do?

    Asked by alizahidriskhan to Liz, Jim, Amelia on 23 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Amelia Markey

      Amelia Markey answered on 23 Jun 2011:

      Had to google this because I had no idea :s

      Pulsars seem to be a type of neutron star that emit electromagnetic radiation. These seem to be of great interest to physicists as they can be used to study many factors of the the universe!

      Look at this wiki page if you want to learn more:

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulsar

      And here’s a link about the discovery of the pulsar with audio clips from the scientists:

      http://www.aip.org/history/mod/pulsar/pulsar1/01.html

    • Photo: Jim Caryl

      Jim Caryl answered on 23 Jun 2011:

      They pulse!

      They are the collapsed remnants of a supernova, when much of the original material of a dying star has been thrown off into space, the remaining material shrinks back and compacts into a relatively small, intense neutron star. Neutron stars can exist for several billion more years, slowly expending the last of their energy until they wink out of existence. Some neutron stars have an extreme spin on them, and these are referred to as pulsar stars – they send waves of radiation out as they spin, which gives them the appearance of pulsing.

      You can see an animation (and live recording of the radiation, i.e. the noise) of the star here:

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