XPoSAT: ISRO Black Hole Mission Observes Crab Pulsar. Know Interesting Facts About These 'Cosmic Lighthouses'

The Crab Pulsar, which is ultra-dense core of the star that exploded into a supernova, acts like a lighthouse, ejecting twin beams of radiation. It has a rotational period of 33.33 milliseconds.

XPoSAT (X-ray Polarimeter Satellite), the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO's) first mission to study black holes and neutron stars, has yielded interesting results after observing the Crab Pulsar. ISRO has obtained a pulse profile of the celestial body.  ( Image Source :NASA/ABP Live )

XPoSAT (X-ray Polarimeter Satellite), the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO's) first mission to study black holes and neutron stars, has yielded interesting results after observing the Crab Pulsar. This is a rapidly spinning neutron star located at the heart of the Crab Nebula. The Crab Nebula, or Messier 1, is a six-light-year-wide remnant of a star's supernova explosion. XPoSAT's Polarimeter Instrument in X-rays (POLIX) observed the Crab Pulsar from January 15 to 18, 2024, and using