The Crab Pulsar compared to the Sun

Neutron star at the heart of the Crab Nebula, spinning 29.53 times per second.

Can you see it?

No small telescope will show you this one; it is here to be understood, not spotted.

The Crab Pulsar has roughly one and a third times the mass of the Sun.

Anything light from there tells us is news about 6,200 years old.

Why it stands out: Born in the same AD 1054 supernova that made the surrounding nebula. Its slowing spin measures the energy that keeps the whole nebula glowing.
What it is: A neutron star whose magnetic field sweeps a beam of radio waves and light around like a lighthouse.; How we know: Radio, optical and X-ray telescopes all see it flash on and off 29.53 times a second, from exactly the centre of the Crab Nebula.

The numbers

We use about 6,200 light-years, from a radio parallax of the pulsar itself (Lin et al. 2023). The long-quoted 6,500 is the older 2.0 kiloparsecs.

Its size has never been measured. We use about 24 km across, the usual size of a neutron star.

Its mass has never been measured. We use about 1.4 solar masses, the usual mass of a neutron star.