AS102 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Radio Wave
Document Summary
Up to that point in time nothing was known to pulsate so regularly so precisely that it kept better time than most watches. The mystery was soon resolved as it was determined that the source of the radio wave pulses was a spinning neutron star, now known as a pulsar. As the neutron star is being formed from a collapsing high-mass star, the conservation of angular momentum causes the dying star to rotate faster and faster. Once the neutron star is formed and the collapse is complete the star spins at a set rate. Formed at the same time is an intense magnetic field, a trillion times more intense than the earth"s magnetic field, which directs the radiation generated in the neutron star along its magnetic pole. (see picture) As shown here, the magnetic poles don"t necessarily line up with the rotational axis (similar to our earth where magnetic north is somewhere in northern canada and not at the north.
