Pulsar Becomes A Cosmic Lighthouse #astronomy #viral #cosmos #space #blackhole

[00:00:07]Telescopes capture bright flashes as small [music] moons around Saturn collide with each other after their orbits are destabilized.

[00:00:16]Meanwhile, if the neutron star is a pulsar, by now its effects are not limited to gravity alone. We could be experiencing radiation burst each time its beam crosses the line of sight to Earth, detectors register spikes.

[00:00:32]Imagine a cosmic lighthouse now flooding the inner solar system every few [music] seconds with pulses of x-ray and gamma radiation.

[00:00:41]When the beam hits, spacecraft instruments can become overloaded.

[00:00:45]Astronomers may need to shut down sensors to protect them. Even the [music] planets themselves feel the cosmic lighthouse effect.

[00:00:54]Nights on Jupiter are periodically illuminated by x-ray auras as the pulsar's beam energizes its magnetic field. And if it is a magnetar, then we're truly hoping it isn't.

[00:01:07]At a distance of five astronomical units, the magnetic field of such an object, though weakened by distance, can begin to induce noticeable currents in conductive materials.