Pulsars belong to a family of objects called neutron stars that form when a star more massive than the sun runs out of fuel in its core and collapses in on itself. Pulsars aren't really stars - or at least they aren't "living" stars. The fastest known millisecond pulsars can rotate more than 700 times per second. Most of those rotate on the order of once per second (these are sometimes called "slow pulsars"), while more than 200 pulsars that rotate hundreds of times per second (called "millisecond pulsars") have been found. Over 2,000 pulsars have been detected in total. (Image credit: NASA)īecause the "blinking" of a pulsar is caused by its spin, the rate of the pulses also reveals the rate at which the pulsar is spinning. The cone is not aligned with the spin axis, which is why the beam sweeps across the sky instead of pointing in just one direction. This diagram of a pulsar shows the yellow cone of light that can be seen by astronomers on Earth.
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