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noun

pulsar

noun
1
A spinning neutron star that sends out regular bursts of radio waves, detected on Earth as rapid pulses.
"Astronomers first detected a pulsar in 1967."
"The pulsar spins hundreds of times per second."

How to Use Pulsar

Learner’s notes

In plain EnglishA dead, super-dense star that flashes radio signals like a lighthouse as it spins.

Easily confused with

Word Forms

pulsars plural

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Astronomers first detected a _____ in 1967.

Etymology

A blend of "pulsating" and "star," coined in the late 1960s after astronomers Antony Hewish and Jocelyn Bell discovered the first one.

Definitions: FreeDict original editorial