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Crab pulsar
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Crab pulsar
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Crab pulsar

astronomy
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Crab pulsar
Crab pulsar Crab pulsar (NP 0532), as observed by the Hubble Space Telescope. The pulsar is the left member of a pair of stars near the centre of the picture. Its energy fuels the glowing centre of the Crab Nebula.

The Crab pulsar is a rapidly spinning neutron star, a collapsed remnant of a supernova observed in 1054 CE. It is located at the center of the Crab Nebula, approximately 6,500 light-years from Earth. This pulsar emits radiation across the entire electromagnetic spectrum, including radio waves, visible light, X-rays, and gamma rays.1

Pulsars are characterized by their extremely regular pulses of radiation, which are detected as the pulsar's beams sweep past Earth with each rotation. The Crab pulsar is notable for flashing 30 times per second and is the energy source that makes the nebula glow. It is one of the few astronomical objects from which radiation has been detected across the entire measurable spectrum.21

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