recycled pulsar
 n.— «Astronomers have long theorized that these superfast stars share their orbit with a companion star from which they leech extra material. The material settles around the pulsar’s middle in a so-called accretion disk. As material from the disk falls onto the surface of the pulsar, it imparts enough angular momentum to spin back up into what scientists call a ”recycled pulsar.” “We mean it in the same sense as recycling your plastics,” Archibald said. “These pulsars have died and become invisible and useless to us, but they get brought back to life by getting fed from a companion.”» —“ Wired Science News for Your Neurons Missing Link in Pulsar Evolution Is a Cannibal” by Lisa Grossman Wired May 21, 2009. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)

Tagged with →  
