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Cosmic Clockwork: Caption, Credits and Copyright

Does This Pulsar (PSR1257+12) Have Orbiting Planets?

Compared to our Sun, a pulsar is several orders of magnitude smaller in size, yet has an even greater mass. A millisecond pulsar is an ancient neutron star with radio frequency beams emitted along its magnetic axis, at some constant offset angle, rotating hundreds of times per second. We can detect pulsars as these emissions, travelling across may light years, are intercepted by a radiotelescope.

Credits

• Animation, Music, Script: Wayne Lytle
• Theory, Research: Alex Wolsczcan
• Simulation: Liang Peng
• Narration: Bruce Land

Copyright (c) 1992, Cornell Theory Center

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Copyright, (c) 1995: Board of Trustees, University of Illinois