Universe  ID: 10144

Millisecond Pulsar with Magnetic Field Structure

Released on July 3, 2007
A pulsar is a rapidly rotating neutron star that emits pulses of radiation (such as X-rays and radio waves) at regular intervals. A millisecond pulsar is one with a rotational period between 1 and 10 milliseconds, or from 60,000 to 6,000 revolutions per minute. Pulsars form in supernova explosions, but even newborn pulsars don’t spin at millisecond speeds, and they gradually slow down with age. If, however, a pulsar is a member of a binary system with a normal star, gas transferred from the companion can spin up an old, slow pulsar to the millisecond range.
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This animation zooms into a neutron star and its accretion disk to show a millisecond pulsar in close-up.

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This animation shows the top view of a Milisecond Pulsar.
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This animation zooms into a neutron star and its accretion disk to show a millisecond pulsar in close-up and has a starry background.
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This animation shows a what a neutron star experiencing a starquake might look like. Starquakes crack the surface crust of the star and briefly increase its spin rate.
 

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Credits

Dana Berry (Skyworks Digital): Lead Animator
Michael McClare (HTSI): Writer
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA

Short URL to share this page:
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10144

This item is part of this series:
Astrophysics Animations

Goddard TV Tape:
G2007-007HD

Keywords:
SVS >> HDTV
SVS >> Neutron Star
DLESE >> Space science
SVS >> Astrophysics
SVS >> Universe
SVS >> Pulsar
NASA Science >> Universe