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So, as the pulsar rotates around, it sweeps the sky with radiation created
along its magnetic pole. The radiation comes out in a fairly narrow cone.
When ever this cone sweeps past, we see this in the radio:
- Typically do not have visible counterparts (exception: Crab Pulsar!)
- Are frequently found at the centers of Supernova Remnants.
- Pulsars will slowly spin down (they are losing energy putting out all those pulses of radio light!). As they spin down, their magnetic fields become more weak, making their radio emission (or pulse) weak. At some point, their emission become too weak to be detected.
The pulsar does not itself, "pulse".. rather, the radiation we detect appears to come in single bursts, or pulses, as the magnetic field sweeps by our line of sight.
Other Facts about Pulsars:
All Pulsars are Neutron Stars.
All Neutron Stars are NOT Pulsars. Why??