What Is A Pulsar?
Pulsars are the products of colossal star explosions. When a star about ten times the size of our Sun dies, it undergoes an ejection of its “mantle” in a great supernova explosion, leaving the highly magnetized and compressed nucleus of the star behind. The nucleus left behind may become what you see above—a pulsar; a rotating neutron star.
Although pulsars are only about the size of a city, pulsars are incredibly dense, possibly having as much material as our Sun. Pulsars don’t actually “pulse”, rather, they appear to pulse due to what is known as the “lighthouse effect”. Huge beams of radiation are ejected from the magnetic axis of the pulsar. These glaring emissions are only visible to us when they are pointed straight at the earth, giving the pulsar an appearance of pulsation.
One of the most impressive facts about pulsars is that, because of their incredible density, their rotational periods are extremely swift and extremely precise. Most pulsar rotational periods are anywhere from a few seconds to a few milliseconds!
fucking awesome
Since the time of Trinity—the first nuclear explosion in 1945—nearly 2,000 nuclear tests have been performed, with the majority taking place during the 1960s and 1970s. When the technology was new, tests were frequent and often spectacular, and led to the development of newer, more deadly weapons. But starting in the 1990s, there have been efforts to limit the future testing of nuclear weapons, including a U.S. moratorium and a U.N. comprehensive test ban treaty. As a result, testing has slowed—though not halted—and there are questions about the future. Who will take over for those experienced engineers who are now near retirement, and should we act as stewards with our enormous stockpiles of nuclear weapons? Gathered here are images from the first 30 years of nuclear testing.
(Shown is a 1971 Photo of a nuclear bomb detonated by the French Government at the Mururoa atoll, French Polynesia.)
Deadmau5 “Moar Ghosts N Stuff”
