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X-Ray Pulsar
Adjust rotational speed:
In Netscape 3 or higher, you may speed up or slow down the rotation. The applet's
"slower" button will add 50ms to the framedelay (to a max of 5s), while "faster" will
subtract 50ms (min is 0ms).
The gas in an accretion disk around a neutron star drifts slowly inward in a
tightening spiral. Eventually it reaches a point where the strong magnetic field of the
neutron star disrupts the disk. The matter is then guided by the magnetic field toward
the magnetic poles of the neutron star. As the material falls toward the surface of the
neutron star it is compressed and heated to a temperature of about a hundred million
degrees. As this hot column of material rotates, it produces a lighthouse-like beam of
X-rays that is observed as a regular pulsing source, as shown below. Note that the
pulses will occur only if the magnetic pole is in a different location from the
rotational pole. About twenty X-ray pulsars have been discovered.
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