pulsar

[ puhl-sahr ]

noun

1. 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.

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

pulsar

/ pŭl′sär′ /

1. 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

1. 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.

Word History and Origins

Origin of pulsar¹

1965–70; puls(ating st)ar, on the model of quasar

Word History and Origins

Origin of pulsar¹

C20: from puls ( ating st ) ar, on the model of quasar

Example Sentences

The dance party was unmatched with songs like “Peur des filles” and “Voodoo?” but since the group just announced a new album, “Pulsar,” out in June, here’s hoping we’ll get a new song or two mixed into the set.

From Los Angeles Times

By studying existing pulsar data, Dror was able to search for gravitational waves with lower frequencies than ever before, increasing our "hearing range" to frequencies as low as 10 picohertz, 100 times lower than previous efforts that detected nanohertz-level waves.

From Science Daily

"The datasets we used were primarily from 2014 and 2015, and a huge number of pulsar observations have been undertaken since that time."

From Science Daily

Researchers in Manchester and Germany found it orbiting a millisecond pulsar 40,000 light years away.

From BBC

They believe a collision between two neutron stars may have created the massive object that now orbits the radio pulsar.

From BBC