HW #8 Solutions
•Question 2   (1 point) We believe that we receive hundreds of pulses per second from so-called "millisecond pulsars" because the neutron star emitting them:
•a.Is spinning hundreds of times per second.
•b.Is actually pulsing (due to thermal instabilities) and changing its size hundreds of times per second.
•c.Is in a binary system orbiting another star hundreds of times per second.
•d.Is seen through a certain kind of nebula that causes "scintillation".
•e.Is surrounded by an accretion disk which has material orbiting the star hundreds of times per second.
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•According to the “lighthouse” model of pulsars, we’re seeing the neutron star’s magnetic north (or south) pole once per spin, and the rotation axis and the magnetic axis are offset.