Chandra images the brightest known pulsar

Thursday, July 22, 2021: NASA’s X-ray space telescope Chandra has obtained new images of the brightest pulsar in the sky.

The M82 X-2 pulsar, a fast spinning neutron star, is located in the galaxy Messier 82 some 12 million light-years from Earth. M82 X-2’s brightness varies but at its brightest it can be more than 10 times brighter than any other known pulsars of this type, NASA said on Twitter.

The pulsar, which defies some of the physical limits for pulsar brightness, rotates around its axis very fast, completing one rotation every 1.37 seconds. Being extremely dense, the pulsar draws to itself matter, which generates the X-ray light detected by Chandra. — Tereza Pultarova