A pulsar blinks only thanks to one geometric detail: its magnetic axis is tilted from its spin axis, so the beam sweeps around like a lighthouse. With that tilt at zero the pulses die out even though the star keeps turning. Spin periods run from radio pulsars at a few turns per second to millisecond pulsars like PSR B1937+21 at 642 turns per second, while a magnetar's 10¹⁴ to 10¹⁵ Gauss field brakes it into a slow spin.
A pulsar blinks only thanks to one geometric detail: its magnetic axis is tilted from its spin axis, so the beam sweeps around like a lighthouse. With that tilt at zero the pulses die out even though the star keeps turning. Spin periods run from radio pulsars at a few turns per second to millisecond pulsars like PSR B1937+21 at 642 turns per second, while a magnetar's 10¹⁴ to 10¹⁵ Gauss field brakes it into a slow spin.
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