The Trailblazer: A spinning neutron star is tied to a mysterious tail – or so it seems. Astronomers using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory found that this pulsar, known as PSR J0357+3205 (or PSR J0357 for short), apparently has a long, bright X-ray tail streaming away from it.

Peculiar magnetar: Astronomers have found evidence for what is likely one of the most extreme pulsars ever detected. This composite image shows RCW 103 and its central source, called 1E 161348-5055 (1E 1613), exhibiting properties of a highly magnetized neutron star, or magnetar, yet its deduced spin period is thousands of times longer than any pulsar ever observed.

Pulsar Wind: About 10,000 years ago, a giant star exploded in the constellation Vela, leaving behind a dense object called a pulsar that appears to brighten regularly as it spins, like a cosmic lighthouse.

Brightest Pulsar: Astronomers using NASA’s Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, (NuSTAR), have discovered the brightest pulsar – a dense stellar remnant left over from a supernova explosion – ever recorded. The dead, pulsating star is beaming with the energy of about 10 million suns.

'Hand of God': A small, dense object only twelve miles in diameter is responsible for this beautiful X-ray nebula that spans 150 light years. At the center of this image made by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory is a very young and powerful pulsar, known as PSR B1509-58, or B1509 for short.

Celestial lighthouse: NASA describes a pulsar like a lighthouse. At night, a lighthouse emits a beam of light that sweeps across the sky. Even though the light is constantly shining, you only see the beam when it is pointing directly in your direction.

Pulsars are the remnants of large stars that exploded in a supernova. They are made up of a collection of neutrons, and have strong magnetic fields that accelerate particles along their magnetic poles, creating two powerful beams of light. As the pulsar rotates, the beams sweep past, causing the pulsar to appear to pulse.