National Geographic News, Reporting Your World Daily

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Photo: Gamma Ray Telescope Finds First "Invisible" Pulsar


Email to a Friend	<< Back to Full Story

Charged particles move along the magnetic field lines (blue) of a pulsar—a type of rapidly spinning neutron star left behind when a massive star goes supernova—in an animation still.

Pulsars emit beams of radiation (purple) from their magnetic poles that sweep across Earth as the star spins. In October 2008 scientists announced they found the first pulsar based only on high-energy gamma rays in a supernova remnant 4,600 light-years away.

Image courtesy NASA