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February 10, 2026<\/p>\n
1 min read<\/p>\n
Add Us On Google<\/span>Add SciAm<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Scientists may have discovered a pulsar at the Milky Way\u2019s heart\u2014a result that could reveal new physics<\/p>\n If a pulsar that may lie at the center of our galaxy is confirmed, it could enable more precise measurements of the spacetime around the Milky Way\u2019s central supermassive black hole<\/p>\n By Jackie Flynn Mogensen edited by Claire Cameron<\/span><\/p>\n An illustration of a pulsar wind nebula produced by the interaction of the outflow particles from a neutron star with gaseous material in the interstellar medium that the neutron star is plowing through.<\/p>\n NASA\/ESA\/N. Tr\u2019Ehnl\/Pennsylvania State University<\/p>\n At the center of the Milky Way, there might lie a pulsar\u2014a highly magnetized, spinning neutron star that formed from the dead husk of a massive star that had gone supernova. If confirmed, the possible discovery, which was announced in a paper published on Monday, could reveal new physics.<\/p>\n Pulsars are the universe\u2019s lighthouses. As they spin, they emit steady and predictable bursts of radiation. In turn, researchers can use these rhythmic pulses to reveal tiny changes in spacetime and detect gravitational waves caused by large, massive objects\u2014including supermassive black holes. The discovery of a pulsar near the Milky Way\u2019s central supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A*, could prove invaluable to astronomers as they seek to understand this cosmic behemoth, according to the researchers behind the possible finding.<\/p>\n \u201cAny external influence on a pulsar, such as the gravitational pull of a massive object, would introduce anomalies in this steady arrival of pulses, which can be measured and modeled,\u201d said Slavko Bogdanov, an associate research scientist at Columbia University and a co-author of the study, in a statement.<\/p>\n If you’re enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.<\/p>\n \u201cIf confirmed, it could help us better understand both our own Galaxy, and General Relativity as a whole,\u201d said Karen Perez, a postdoctoral fellow at the SETI Institute and lead author of the paper, in the same statement.<\/p>\n The \u201cintriguing\u201d candidate pulsar, which researchers have called BLPSR, has a rotational period of 8.19 milliseconds, making it especially fast-spinning. \u201cFurther tests and observations are necessary to conclusively confirm or reject BLPSR as a pulsar,\u201d the authors wrote in the paper.<\/p>\n If you enjoyed this article, I\u2019d like to ask for your support. Scientific American<\/span> has served as an advocate for science and industry for 180 years, and right now may be the most critical moment in that two-century history.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve been a Scientific American<\/span> subscriber since I was 12 years old, and it helped shape the way I look at the world. SciAm <\/span>always educates and delights me, and inspires a sense of awe for our vast, beautiful universe. 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I hope you\u2019ll support us in that mission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" February 10, 2026 1 min read Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAm Scientists may have discovered a pulsar at the Milky Way\u2019s heart\u2014a result that could reveal new physics If a pulsar that may lie at the center of our galaxy is confirmed, it could enable more precise measurements of the spacetime around the Milky Way\u2019s<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44202,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[5178,22987,11667,5479,22986,14780,1507,384,4005],"class_list":{"0":"post-44201","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-discovered","9":"tag-hearta","10":"tag-milky","11":"tag-physics","12":"tag-pulsar","13":"tag-result","14":"tag-reveal","15":"tag-scientists","16":"tag-ways"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=44201"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44201\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/44202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=44201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=44201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=44201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}On supporting science journalism<\/h2>\n
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