Researchers have been successful in mapping the topography of both magnetic poles of a pulsar for the first time. This was possible thanks to an effect of gravity described by Einstein’s theory of general relativity.

Pulsars are rapidly rotating neutron stars and are one of the most exotic objects in the Universe with a gravitational field second only to black holes. They have the strongest magnetic fields in the Universe and emit radio emission from their magnetic poles. The results were published in the journal Science on the 6 September 2019.

“This pulsar, known as PSR J1906+0746, is a member of a binary system with another neutron star. The extreme gravitational environment of the two neutron stars causes spacetime to be distorted. This in turn causes the pulsar to precess, changing the angle we view the radio emission and thus allowing us to map out the emission.” said Professor Andrew Lyne of The University of Manchester, who used the Lovell telescope at Jodrell Bank Observatory to first determine the nature of this system.

Ben Stappers, Professor of Astrophysics at The University of Manchester said: “This pulsar is expected to precess so far that in 2028 the pulsar will no longer be visible from Earth and we will continue to monitor it with our telescopes including the Lovell Telescope at Jodrell Bank Observatory up to that point to see what more we can learn from this interesting system.”