Earth's magnetic field is around 1 gauss, and the sun's is around a few hundred gauss, according to astrophysicist Paul Sutter. The average neutron star boasts a powerful magnetic field. "We use these pulsars the same way we use the atomic clocks in a GPS navigation system," Gendreau said. "Some of these millisecond pulsars are extremely regular, clock-like regular," Keith Gendreau of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, told members of the press in 2018. The flickering of pulsars is so predictable that researchers are considering using them for spaceflight navigation. The transfer of energy in these gamma-ray pulsars slows the spin of the star.
Young neutron stars before they cool can also produce pulses of X-rays when some parts are hotter than others.Īs material within a pulsar accelerates within the magnetosphere of a pulsar, the neutron star produces gamma-ray emission. Because their main power source comes from the material from their companion, they are often called "accretion-powered pulsars." "Spin-powered pulsars" are driven by the stars rotation, as high-energy electrons interact with the pulsar's magnetic field above their poles. When X-ray pulsars capture the material flowing from more massive companions, that material interacts with the magnetic field to produce high-powered beams that can be seen in the radio, optical, X-ray or gamma-ray spectrum. Normal pulsars spin between 0.1 and 60 times per second, while millisecond pulsars can result as much as 700 times per second. Scientists called them pulsars after their pulsing appearance.
As these beams pan past Earth, they flash like the bulb of a lighthouse. Some neutron stars have jets of materials streaming out of them at nearly the speed of light. Some pulsars even have planets orbiting them - and some may turn into planets. The material flows along the magnetic poles of the neutron star, creating X-ray pulsations as it is heated.īy 2010, approximately 1,800 pulsars had been identified through radio detection, with another 70 found by gamma-rays. Stars more than 10 times as massive as the sun transfer material in the form of stellar wind.