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Lonka Cluster pulsar

A pulsar in the Lonka Cluster

Binary pulsars

A binary pulsar, viewed on the viewscreen of the USS Voyager

Trivoli pulsar

The Trivoli pulsar

"When a pulsar nearly kills you, you tend not to forget."
Captain Christopher Pike, 2259 ("Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach")

A pulsar is a rapidly rotating neutron star that sends out streams of electrons at nearly the speed of light along their magnetic poles. These subatomic particles emit electromagnetic radiation, including radio waves, visible light, X-rays, and gamma rays, such that as the pulsar rotates, they appear to "pulse" with light to an observer.

A plaque attached to the Pioneer 10 space probe showed the location of Earth in relation to fourteen pulsars (and the galactic center). The same map was also incorporated in a SETI greeting in use in 1996. (Star Trek V: The Final Frontier; VOY: "Future's End")

The Vandor system is a binary star system consisting of a red giant and a pulsar. (TNG: "We'll Always Have Paris")

In 2257, the USS Discovery, under the command of Captain Christopher Pike, rescued the surviving members of the crew of the crashed USS Hiawatha, who were on an interstellar asteroid that was on a collision course with a pulsar. (DIS: "Brother")

The Majalan system contained a pulsar; in 2249, Lieutenant Christopher Pike rescued a Alora from a shuttle in distress near it. (SNW: "Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach")

In the mid-2360s, the USS Trieste was assigned by Starfleet to undertake a pulsar research project. (Starship mission status chart from TNG Season 4 onward)

The USS Enterprise-D conducted an astronomical survey of a new pulsar cluster in the Epsilon IX sector in 2365. (TNG: "Samaritan Snare")

A pulsar of 4.356 solar masses was located in the Lonka Cluster. When Captain Jean-Luc Picard was replaced by aliens in 2366, the doppelganger ordered the Enterprise dangerously close to that pulsar in order to investigate the nature of authority. (TNG: "Allegiance")

In reality, neutron stars and pulsars are believed to have a mass limit of about 2.5 solar masses; any more massive and they will collapse into a black hole.

In 2374, the USS Voyager discovered a binary pulsar system. Captain Kathryn Janeway later ordered Voyager to fly between the pulsars, forcing a Srivani research team to retreat from the ship but nearly destroying Voyager in the process. (VOY: "Scientific Method")

Derran Tal detected a pulsar field from the Varro generational ship in 2375. However, it was located near an inhabited star system, and so she was unable to explore it due to the general xenophobia among the Varro. (VOY: "The Disease")

Ensign Harry Kim listed an energy burst from a pulsar as a possible reason for the graviton ellipse's course change in 2376. (VOY: "One Small Step")

Later that year, Reginald Barclay targeted a tachyon beam from the MIDAS array at a class B itinerant pulsar to create an artificial wormhole that allowed Starfleet to contact Voyager. (VOY: "Pathfinder") The pulsar allowed two-way communications once every thirty-two days. (VOY: "Life Line")

Icheb said that when he was a Borg drone, he never thought about what was outside the cube: "pulsars, quasars, nebulas". (VOY: "Child's Play")

In 2377, a pair of pulsars was one of the obstacles during the Antarian Trans-stellar Rally, which competitors had to fly straight through. (VOY: "Drive")

In 2380, the USS Cerritos flew near the Trivoli pulsar. (LD: "Envoys")

In 2401, pulsar was listed as one of the results in Raffaela Musiker's search for the "red lady". (PIC: "The Next Generation")

See also[]

External link[]

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