Questions tagged [pulsar]
Questions regarding neutron stars which emit regular pulses of electromagnetic radiation.
15
questions
5
votes
1
answer
532
views
How bright is the Crab Pulsar's 30 Hz modulation in visible light? What color is it?
This answer to Has great eyesight been necessary for astronomers? mentions Astronomer Jocelyn Bell Burnell's recounting of a likely first visual observation of a pulsar. This can be found for example ...
- 31.4k
15
votes
2
answers
7k
views
What causes a neutron star to become a pulsar?
Leading on from this pulsar question, what criteria/processes make neutron stars become pulsars, do all neutron stars become pulsars?
- 597
28
votes
2
answers
2k
views
What causes a star to become a pulsar?
What processes does a star undergo to become a pulsar? Does it take a very specific star with a certain set of qualities such as "Just the right mass, diameter, and composition," or is it a freak ...
- 881
5
votes
1
answer
279
views
How did the Hulse-Taylor Pulsar Provide Confirming Evidence of General Relativity?
What measurements and observations of the Hulse-Taylor Pulsar agreed precisely with the predictions of general relativity, and how did these measurements support the theory?
- 153
21
votes
1
answer
558
views
Can we detect pulsars that aren't "pointed" towards us?
A pulsar is a highly magnetized rotating neutron star that emits beams of radiation through its magnetic poles, in the direction of the Earth. This makes it seem to pulse, as seen from Earth. There ...
- 17.4k
16
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Are there neutron stars whose magnetic axis and rotating axis are the same, and if so what will happen?
I know that there's probably a higher chance of having a neutron star that has its magnetic axis inclined to the rotational axis rather than having it perfectly aligned.
If they are not aligned, the ...
- 477
16
votes
3
answers
2k
views
What is the probability of seeing a neutron star as a pulsar?
Pulsars are neutron stars that emit a beam of electromagnetic radiation that is not aligned with its rotation axis. If the Earth passes through that beam of radiation, we see a pulsar. Pulsars are ...
- 17.4k
11
votes
1
answer
1k
views
How can I hear (or at least detect) a pulsar at home?
Scott Manley's video Using Relativistic Raytracing &X-Rays To See Detail on Surface Of Neutron Star talks about X-ray measurements using the NICER X-ray telescope attached to the International ...
- 31.4k
7
votes
1
answer
234
views
What is a typical polar angle of a pulsar beam?
I've found many articles on the geometry of pulsar beams, but I have not been able to find what would be a typical angle for the beam cone. Illustrations I've found seem to look like it might be 1 or ...
- 173
7
votes
1
answer
382
views
Is there any well-populated list or database of pulsar "glitches"?
Besides listing which pulsars have ever actually glitched, it would hopefully also include some historical data on their periods before and after they glitched.
- 173
6
votes
1
answer
496
views
Is "magnetars don't last long — just a year to a few years" really true? Is it a misquote or perhaps taken out of context?
NASA's Two Sides of the Same Star discusses the relationship between pulsars and magnetars and contains a video also linked below.
At 02:13 it quotes "Tom ...
- 31.4k
6
votes
3
answers
281
views
Can't pulsars and stars be used for gravitational wave measurement?
Suppose that we collected photons from a distant star, and they arrive regularly at 15 photons every microsecond onto a CCD, when a gravity wave bends space time, wouldn't the regular 15 photons graph ...
- 4,188
6
votes
1
answer
136
views
What are the main ways that pulsar "glitches" are noticed and documented? Do they have to be caught in the act of glitching to be catalogued?
This answer to Is there any well-populated list or database of pulsar "glitches"? mentions two large databases; (Jodrell Bank and ATNF's pulsar catalog) but neither question nor answer ...
- 31.4k
3
votes
2
answers
480
views
How to find period of a pulsar from a given time sampled voltage data?
I've a data file with 2 columns, each containing time sampled voltage output (a sequence of real numbers) from a radio telescope, so there is a pair of telescope which are measuring the signal here. ...
- 31
1
vote
1
answer
179
views
Is the smaller companion of Pulsar J0453+1559 still the smallest known neutron star? Was it further confirmed to be a NS after Martinez et al. (2015)?
@ProfRob's Physics SE answer to What is the theoretical lower mass limit for a gravitationally stable neutron star? was linked just now in their answer to Can a neutron star ever be less than about 1....
- 31.4k