Pulsars are rapidly spinning neutron stars, the collapsed cores of once
massive stars that ended their lives as supernova explosions. Pulsar
rotation rates can reach incredible speeds, up to hundreds of times per
second. The story of how an object 'spins up' to a significant fraction
of the speed of light is fascinating and involves collapsing stellar
cores following supernova explosions, while the faster ones result from
stellar cannibalism.
In this book, Geoff McNamara explores the history, subsequent discovery
and contemporary research into pulsar astronomy. The story of pulsars is
brought right up to date with the announcement in 2006 of a new breed of
pulsar, Rotating Radio Transients (RRATs), which emit short bursts of
radio signals separated by long pauses. These may outnumber conventional
radio pulsars by a ratio of four to one. Geoff McNamara ends by pointing
out that, despite the enormous success of pulsar research in the second
half of the twentieth century, the real discoveries are yet to be made
including, perhaps, the detection of the hypothetical pulsar black hole
binary system by the proposed Square Kilometre Array - the largest
single radio telescope in the world.