Simply put, pulsars are rotating neutron stars. And pulsars pulse because they rotate! Pulsars pulse because the rotation of the neutron star causes the radiation generated within the magnetic field to sweep in and out of our line of sight with a regular period.
A Diagram of pulsar, showing its rotation axis and its magnetic axis
Pulsars have jets of particles moving almost at the speed of light streaming out above their magnetic poles. These jets produce very powerful beams of light. We see pulsars turn on and off as the beam sweeps over the Earth. Neutron stars for which we see such pulses are called "pulsars", indicating that the source of energy is the rotation of the neutron star.
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| Crab Pulsar "On" | Crab Pulsar "Off" |
