WEBVTT FILE 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.980 [Music throughout] 2 00:00:04.000 --> 00:00:10.040 This pulsar is leaving a glowing trail as it races through our galaxy. 3 00:00:10.060 --> 00:00:12.040 4 00:00:12.060 --> 00:00:17.040 A pulsar is a rapidly spinning neutron star, the superdense remnant of a star destroyed in a supernova. 5 00:00:17.060 --> 00:00:21.040 6 00:00:21.060 --> 00:00:25.040 Some pulsars track through space at high speeds. Why? 7 00:00:25.060 --> 00:00:27.040 8 00:00:27.060 --> 00:00:33.040 Astronomers think an uneven supernova explosion may give a swift kick to a newborn pulsar. 9 00:00:33.060 --> 00:00:36.980 10 00:00:37.000 --> 00:00:42.040 The pulsar – called J0002+6216 – is among the swiftest, moving at nearly 2.5 million mph (4 million kph)… 11 00:00:42.060 --> 00:00:47.040 Fast enough to go from Earth to the Moon in 6 minutes. 12 00:00:47.060 --> 00:00:50.980 13 00:00:51.000 --> 00:00:57.040 The pulsar shines brightly in gamma rays and was found by NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. 14 00:00:57.060 --> 00:01:01.040 15 00:01:01.060 --> 00:01:06.980 Fermi data also allowed direct measurement of the pulsar’s speed through space. 16 00:01:07.000 --> 00:01:09.980 17 00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:20.040 The pulsar's trail, mapped by the Very Large Array radio telescope, points back to the heart of the 10,000-year-old supernova remnant, CTB 1. 18 00:01:20.060 --> 00:01:22.040 19 00:01:22.060 --> 00:01:23.980 20 00:01:24.000 --> 00:01:29.980 Further study of this object will shed more light on how supernovae are able to 'kick' neutron stars to such high speed. 21 00:01:30.000 --> 00:01:36.200 22 00:01:36.220 --> 00:01:47.170 Faster than 99 percent of all pulsars with measured speeds, this one will eventually escape our galaxy. 23 00:01:47.190 --> 00:01:51.310 NASA Astrophysics 24 00:01:51.330 --> 00:01:57.370 [Beeping] 25 00:01:57.390 --> 00:01:59.833 [Beeping]