Cosmic Lighthouse ⛯ About 10,000 years ago, light from the explosion of a giant star arrived at Earth. This supernova left behind a dense object called a pulsar, which appears to brighten regularly as it spins, like a cosmic lighthouse beacon. This phenomenon is caused by winds of particles on the surface of the pulsar that emerge and travel near the speed of light, creating a chaotic hodgepodge of charged particles and magnetic fields that crash into surrounding gas. Using the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) to measure this pulsar’s polarization, which has to do with how electromagnetic waves are organized, scientists are getting an unprecedented understanding of how a cosmic object like a pulsar accelerates particles to high speeds. Image description: A pulsar wind nebula. A hazy blue halo in the center of the image reveals X-ray polarization data from IXPE. From the halo, a faint blue fuzzy line points to the upper right-hand corner, revealing a jet of high-energy ...