Day 79 of 365
March 20
🌌
Space Pulsars and Neutron Star Lighthouses
Pulsars are rapidly rotating neutron stars emitting beams of electromagnetic radiation from their magnetic poles. As they spin, these beams sweep across space like lighthouse beams. The first pulsar, discovered in 1967, baffled astronomers with its precise 1.337-second pulses - so regular they briefly considered it might be alien signals. The fastest known pulsar rotates 716 times per second.
💡 Did you know?
Pulsars are so regular that some keep time more accurately than atomic clocks - they're sometimes called 'nature's atomic clocks'!
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