Radio Daze: Staccato pulses suggest a new stellar class

Astronomers say that they have discovered a new class of star that emits a burst of radio waves for 2 to 30 milliseconds before falling silent for minutes to hours. Each of the 11 newfound objects ranks among the strongest known sources of radio waves in the universe.

STELLAR CLASS. Magnetic field lines (blue and green) loop around a rotating neutron star, while radio beams (purple) shoot out from it.