After decades of ultra-reliable behavior, the pulsar PSR J1713+0747 suddenly changed its output in April 2021. Astronomers have documented the change and subsequent modifications, and offered some tentative explanations for the cause. Nevertheless, they admit the events indicate something deep about pulsars we don’t yet understand. The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.

When supernovae leave a neutron star behind, it spins rapidly, sending out beams of radio waves across the universe, often compared to lighthouses. Over time the spin slows down as radiation takes energy out of the system, and eventually the pulsar beam stops altogether. However, when the neutron star is in a close orbit with a main sequence star , the pulsar

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