Manoj Mandal

A kitchen timer ticks once a second. The neutron star SRGA J144459.2-604207 ticks 448 times a second: that's its own rotation, and it shows up in X-ray bursts. In 2024, the star woke up and started throwing thermonuclear explosions on its surface, like a bubbling pot of boiling water.

A lighthouse doesn't flash steadily but in short, bright pulses. The neutron star in the system 4U 1323-62 is such a lighthouse in the X-ray range. It pulls gas from a companion star, and when enough material accumulates on its surface, a thermonuclear explosion occurs — an X-ray burst.