PSR J1841−0500 is a

pulsar A pulsar (''pulsating star, on the model of quasar'') is a highly magnetized rotating neutron star that emits beams of electromagnetic radiation out of its Poles of astronomical bodies#Magnetic poles, magnetic poles. This radiation can be obse ...

located 22,800

light-years A light-year, alternatively spelled light year (ly or lyr), is a unit of length used to express astronomical distances and is equal to exactly , which is approximately 9.46 trillion km or 5.88 trillion mi. As defined by the International Astro ...

from the Sun in the

Scutum–Centaurus Arm The Scutum–Centaurus Arm, also known as Scutum-Crux arm, is a long, diffuse curving streamer of stars, gas and dust that spirals outward from the proximate end of the Milky Way's central bar. The Milky Way has been posited since the 1950s to h ...

of the

Milky Way The Milky Way or Milky Way Galaxy is the galaxy that includes the Solar System, with the name describing the #Appearance, galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars in other arms of the galax ...

. It was discovered in December 2008 by Fernando Camilo, who was using the

Parkes Observatory Parkes Observatory is a radio astronomy observatory, located north of the town of Parkes, New South Wales, Australia. It hosts Murriyang, the 64 m CSIRO Parkes Radio Telescope also known as "The Dish", along with two smaller radio telescopes. T ...

when he discovered the object. At the time of discovery, it was spinning once every 0.9 seconds. However, in 2009, it stopped emitting pulses completely. Most pulsars that stop emitting pulses only do so for a few minutes. But PSR J1841-0500 did so for 580 days. Then in August 2011, it started pulsing again. In comparison, only one other pulsar is known to stop pulsing for more than a few minutes:

PSR B1931+24 PSR may refer to: Organizations * Pacific School of Religion, Berkeley, California, US * Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research * Payment Systems Regulator in the United Kingdom * Physicians for Social Responsibility, US Political p ...

turns on for a week and then stops emitting pulses for a month in a cycle.

References

Pulsars Scutum–Centaurus Arm Scutum (constellation) {{var-star-stub