Pulsar Beams (2D) | mysimulator.uk

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Pulsar Geometry

Spin rate 1.00×

Beam half-width 8°

Magnetic obliquity α 25°

Beam colour

Live Readout

Period

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Phase

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Flux now

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Duty cycle

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Pulses seen

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ζ (fixed)

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The observer (Earth) sits at a fixed line-of-sight angle ζ. A pulse is recorded whenever the rotating magnetic axis sweeps within the beam's half-width of that line of sight.

How it works

The magnetic axis is tilted by the obliquity α from the spin axis and sweeps a cone once per rotation. The angular distance ρ between the beam axis and the fixed observer direction ζ at rotation phase φ follows the standard pulsar beaming relation:

cos ρ(φ) = cos α · cos ζ + sin α · sin ζ · cos φ

Radio flux is modelled as a Gaussian in ρ, peaking when ρ = 0 and vanishing once ρ exceeds the beam's half-width — the same "lighthouse" mechanism that makes real pulsars flash on and off as they spin, recorded below as a scrolling light curve exactly like a radio telescope's pulse train.