Pulsars and Neutron Stars

Pulsars stand as the universe's most extreme natural laboratories. Jocelyn Bell Burnell's 1967 detection of rapidly pulsating radio signals revealed neutron stars spinning up to 700 times per second with densities exceeding atomic nuclei by 10^14 times. These objects are 30% denser than the typical rival, white dwarfs, and provide unique tests for quantum chromodynamics under impossible terrestrial conditions.