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Narrator: A pulsar is a rapidly spinning neutron star, which is the small incredibly

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dense remnant of much more massive star. A teaspoon of matter

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from a neutron star weighs as much as Mount Everest and the neutron star is so compact

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that a ball about fifteen miles across contains more matter than our sun.

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Neutron stars spin between seven and forty thousand times a

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minute and form with incredibly strong magnetic fields. Rapid spin

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and intense magnetic fields drive powerful beams of electromagnetic radiation

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including gamma rays. As the pulsar rotates, these

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beams sweep the sky like a lighthouse. To a distant observer, the pulsar

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appears to blink on and off. Pulsars slow down as they

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age but some of the oldest pulsars spin hundreds of times a second.

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Each of these millisecond pulsars orbits a normal star. Over time,

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the impact of gas pulled from the normal star has spun the pulsar up to incredible

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speeds. This accretion may be the cause of their weaker

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magnetic fields. Despite this, these pulsars also emit gamma

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rays.

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