<![CDATA[io9: Pulsar]]> http://cache.io9.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/io9.com.png <![CDATA[io9: Pulsar]]> http://io9.com/tag/pulsar http://io9.com/tag/pulsar <![CDATA[The insane conditions needed to create ultra-energetic cosmic rays are finally revealed]]> Every so often, incredibly energetic charged particles will reach Earth - and we're not sure what could possibly be powerful enough to generate these cosmic rays. Now we might have the answer...and it's just an absurdly specific set of circumstances. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5881383&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Bizarre star is seemingly older than the explosion that created it in the first place]]> There's something very wrong about pulsar SXP 1062. This neutron star was created in the aftermath of a massive supernova. All the evidence says this star formed 40,000 years ago...but its slow spinning tells a far different, much older story. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5871371&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[A destroyed star becomes a planet made of diamonds]]> An international research team has found an exoplanet made entirely of diamonds. Although this may seem glamorous, researchers think it is only the desolate remains of a star, robbed of its mass by its companion. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5834103&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[NASA's "exceptional object" = a young black hole, right in our cosmic backyard]]> NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has picked up what appears to be the youngest black hole we've discovered near our planet. This object could however instead be the youngest documented neutron star. Either way, it's an exciting find. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5690410&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Record-breaking neutron star packs twice the Sun's mass into a twelve-mile-wide sphere]]> The most massive neutron star ever discovered has been found 3000 light-years away. The tiny star is twice as massive as the Sun but its diameter is mere miles across. This discovery confirms these stars really are made of neutrons. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5677584&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Magnetar has magnetic fields that are mysteriously intense]]> Pulsars, or neutron stars, are the universe's densest objects other than black holes. Special pulsars known as magnetars can have intense magnetic fields up to a trillion times stronger than our Sun...but one strange magnetar has been hiding its powers. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5665006&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Gamma Rays of the Dead Shine Like a Nightmare into the Eyes of the Living]]> When you look into the heart of the Crab Nebula, you are staring at the gamma-radiation-soaked nightmare of history. You may have already known that this gorgeous nebula is the result of a supernova that Chinese and Arab astronomers recorded back in 1054. But what you didn't know is that the dead star became a pulsar that's still pouring ultrahot, oscillating gamma radiation out into the cosmos. Researchers in the U.K. are investigating this gamma-spewing pulsar, and Clara Moskowitz has the story at Space.com. Image credit: NASA/ESA and Jeff Hester (Arizona State University). More »
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