Lesson Five : Pulsars and Their Relation to Neutron Stars
As astronomers mapped out the locations of the pulsars Bell and Hewish had discovered, they realized that these pulsars were actually concentrated within the plane of our own galaxy, the Milky Way. Very few celestial objects could emit this much radiation. Using a process of elimination, astronomers ruled out many stellar objects.Eventually, most scientists were convinced that these pulsars represented the first detection of actual neutron stars. In 1968, this hypothesis was confirmed with the discovery of pulsars at the center of the Crab Nebula and the Vela Supernova Remnant - two places in which neutron stars would be expected to be present as the remains of supernova explosions.
The discovery of pulsars represents another example of science progressing through observational confirmation of a theoretical hypothesis. Theory and observation meet and create new laws of science, even if they are almost 40 years apart!
Pulsar at the center of the Crab Nebula in radio
NRAO
NRAO
Vela Pulsar in X-ray
NASA / PSU / G. Pavlov et al.
NASA / PSU / G. Pavlov et al.