A pulsar is a highly magnetized, high speed rotating neutron star that emits a beam of electromagnetic radiation. Pulsar is a short word for pulsating radio star. Pulsars radiate two narrow beams of light in opposite directions but appear to flicker because they spin ( its similar the way a lighthouse is seen on the ocean by a observer).
From earth pulsar may look like its blinking but in reality its not. When pulsar rotates, the beam of light also rotates and during rotation the beam moves away from earth view and when it comes back again and point towards earth and makes it like its blinking. As mentioned above that its similar the way a lighthouse is seen on the ocean by a observer.
Pulsars pulses range roughly from milliseconds to seconds for an single pulsar. Most of the pulsars rotates at once per second and they are called as slow pulsars where as those pulsars rotates hundreds of times per second are known as milliseconds pulsars.
How a pulsar is formed?
The formation of a pulsar begin when the core of a massive star is compressed during a supernova, which collapses into a neutron star. it is formed with very high rotation speed. A beam of radiation is emitted along the magnetic axis of the pulsar, which spins along with the rotation of the neutron star. The magnetic axis of the pulsar determines the direction of the electromagnetic beam, with the magnetic axis not necessarily being the same as its rotational axis. The beam originates from the rotational energy of the neutron star, which generates an electrical field from the movement of the very strong magnetic field, resulting in the acceleration of protons and electrons on the star surface and the creation of an electromagnetic beam emanating from the poles of the magnetic field. This rotation slows down over time as electromagnetic power is emitted. When a pulsar's spin period slows down sufficiently, the radio pulsar mechanism is believed to turn off (the so-called "death line"). This turn-off seems to take place after about 10–100 million years, which means of all the neutron stars born in the 13.6 billion year age of the universe, around 99% no longer pulsate.
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