Regards the discussion concerning Pulsars and Neutron Stars preceding my Sunday Lecture on Supernovae and SN1987A, I provide this rather interesting story: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_1323.html .  As well, to the topic of conversation during that discussion: Pulsars (Neutron stars whose tightly focused beam is aligned along its magnetic axis, a beam whose frequency is equal to the star’s rotational frequency) spin down due to magnetic torque effects and the possible emission of gravitational waves and spin up due to the accretion of material from a companion star.

Tom

A Young Pulsar Shows Its Hand
Mon, 06 Apr 2009 23:00:00 -0500

A small, dense object only 12 miles in diameter is responsible for this beautiful X-ray nebula that spans 150 light years. At the center of this image...