This Incredible Blinking Star Is the Youngest Pulsar We've Ever Seen

[Judi Lynn]

By Meghan Bartels, Space.com Senior Writer | October 24, 2018 11:54am ET

- click for image -

https://img.purch.com/h/1400/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5zcGFjZS5jb20vaW1hZ2VzL2kvMDAwLzA4MC8yMzMvb3JpZ2luYWwva2VzNzUuanBn

A composite image of the Kes 75 pulsar, the youngest such object identified to date in the Milky Way. High-energy X-rays are shown in light blue; low-energy ones are shown in purple.

Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/NCSU/S. Reynolds; Optical: PanSTARRS

More than 2 million mph (1 million meters per second) — that's how incredibly fast some stuff in space is moving, according to new research using the Chandra X-Ray Observatory.

Specifically, it's a pulsar-wind nebula — the shell of highly magnetized and high-energy particles surrounding a pulsar — that's clocking such amazing speeds. And the phenomenon has proven that the pulsar hiding inside, Kes 75, is the youngest such object discovered to date, according to a statement from the Chandra team.

A pulsar is a particularly magnetic type of neutron star, the superdense stars formed by certain supernova explosions. Because of their magnetic activity, pulsars shoot twin jets of radiation across the universe, and because they spin as they do so, the result is often compared to the beam of a lighthouse sweeping around periodically.

More:
https://www.space.com/42235-youngest-pulsar-ever-discovery-kes-75.html