Astronomy. one of several hundred known celestial objects, generally believed to be rapidly rotating neutron stars, that emit pulses of radiation, especially radio waves, with a high degree of regularity.
It could be a rapidly rotating, extremely dense neutron star called a pulsar.
These leave behind a dense object known as a pulsar, which forms from the core of the exploding star.
Their magnetic poles emit electromagnetic radio waves, so each time a pulsar spins, it sends out a radio blip.
Astronomers have tracked the movement of a pulsar, making the first direct measurement of its impressive speed.
The new paradigm also predicted pulsar-planets before they were discovered.
pulsar-planets were also later predicted in a published paper.
It was a pulsar, the spinning relic of an exploded star.
The two or three objects around a pulsar offer little insight.
If the pulsar is in a close orbit with another, more normal star, its gravity can draw material off the star.
Finding a planet around a homier star, though, is if anything even harder than finding one around a pulsar.
British Dictionary definitions for pulsar
pulsar
/ˈpʌlˌsɑː/
noun
1.
any of a number of very small extremely dense objects first observed in 1967, which rotate very rapidly and emit very regular pulses of polarized radiation, esp radio waves. They are thought to be neutron stars formed following supernova explosions
Word Origin
C20: from puls(ating st)ar, on the model of quasar
Word Origin and History for pulsar
n.
1968, from pulse (n.1), the form on analogy of quasar. When discovered in 1967, they were thought perhaps to be signals from alien civilizations and astronomers informally dubbed them LGM for "Little Green Men."
pulsar in Science
pulsar
(pŭl'sär') A rapidly spinning neutron star that emits radiation, usually radio waves, in narrow beams focused by the star's powerful magnetic field and streaming outward from its magnetic poles. Because the pulsar's magnetic poles do not align with the poles of its rotational axis, the beams of radiation sweep around like the beacon of a lighthouse and are thus observed on Earth as short, regular pulses, with periods anywhere between 1 millisecond and 4 seconds.
pulsar in Culture
pulsar [(pul-sahr)]
A rapidly rotating neutron star. The radiation from such a star appears to come in a series of regular pulses (one per revolution), which explains the name.