The nebula is the shell of gas that was exploded out in a supernova when the pulsar formed. The pulsar illuminates the nebula as it pulses at a rate of 33 times per second. Recently, the 1000th pulsar was discovered in Australia using a new radio telescope technology known as a multibeam receiver system. This device allows radio telescopes to scan the skies with up to 13 beams at the same time. Today, new pulsars are being discovered at ten times the rate they were in the 1970s and 1980s.
Pulsars make incredible accurate time keepers.
Their pulses are so consistent that they can be used to tell time with an accuracy much greater than atomic clocks, the most accurate time keepers on Earth. It has a very slow pulse period of only 0.715 seconds.