What is the difference between pulsars and quasars

They can release energy capable of illuminating a galaxy and equivalent to millions of suns. Currently, more than , quasars have been identified.

More details here: Quasar. All posts. Newcomers' Community. Steemit Feedback. Explore communities…. Difference between a Pulsar and a Quasar? Image source: [1] A pulsar is a neutron star that emits radiation periodically. All messages will be reviewed before being displayed. Comments may be merged or altered slightly such as if an email address is given in the main body of the comment. You can decline to give a name which if that is the case, the comment will be attributed to a random star.

A name is preferred even if its a random made up one by yourself. If you give an email address, you may receive an email notifying you when someone else has added a comment to the same page. In the email will be a link to unsubscribe to further notifications. Ever get pulsars and quasars confused? I do — they both sound to me like something from Star Trek that you use to stun the Romulans.

What is a Pulsar? Remember, everything in the universe spins. First you need to know something about poles. The Earth has two north poles and two south poles. One set is because the Earth is spinning: the poles are the tips of the axis that the Earth spins on.

The other set is because the Earth has a magnetic field: all magnets have a north side and a south side. On Earth, these two sets of poles are slightly misaligned. Caption: Pulsar Diagram. In a pulsar, the poles are even more misaligned, so as the star spins, the magnetic field is swung around in circles.

When this happens to a neutron star, you get a super-bright beam of light beaming out from the magnetic poles. Since these poles are swinging around, so do the beams of light — just like a lighthouse. To learn more about neutron stars, refer to the links below. What is a Quasar?