An optical pulsar is a pulsar

Pulsar

A pulsar is a highly magnetized, rotating neutron star that emits a beam of electromagnetic radiation. The radiation can only be observed when the beam of emission is pointing towards the Earth. This is called the lighthouse effect and gives rise to the pulsed nature that gives pulsars their name...

 which can be detected in the visible spectrum. There are very few of these known: the Crab pulsar

Crab Pulsar

The Crab Pulsar is a relatively young neutron star. The star is the central star in the Crab Nebula, a remnant of the supernova SN 1054, which was widely observed on Earth in the year 1054...

 was detected by stroboscopic

Stroboscopic

Stroboscopic may refer to:* Stroboscopic effect, visual temporal aliasing* Stroboscope, any of various stroboscopic devices* Strobe light, high-intensity and short-duration stroboscopic device...

 techniques in 1969, shortly after its discovery in radio waves, at the Steward Observatory

Steward Observatory

The University of Arizona's Steward Observatorys main office is located on the University's campus and is closely tied to the Department of Astronomy. Established in 1916 by its first director, Andrew Ellicott Douglass, and a $60,000 bequest made by Lavinia Steward in memory of her late husband...

. The Vela pulsar

Vela Pulsar

The Vela Pulsar is a radio, optical, X-ray and gamma-emitting pulsar associated with Vela Supernova Remnant, in the constellation of Vela.- Supernova origins :...

 was detected in 1977 at the Anglo-Australian Observatory

Anglo-Australian Observatory

The Australian Astronomical Observatory , formerly the Anglo-Australian Observatory, is an optical/near-infrared astronomy observatory with its headquarters in suburban Sydney, Australia...

, and was the faintest star ever imaged at that time.

Six known optical pulsars are list by Shearer and Golden (2002):

Name of pulsar	Magnitude Absolute magnitude Absolute magnitude is the measure of a celestial object's intrinsic brightness. it is also the apparent magnitude a star would have if it were 32.6 light years away from Earth...   (B)
Crab Pulsar Crab Pulsar The Crab Pulsar is a relatively young neutron star. The star is the central star in the Crab Nebula, a remnant of the supernova SN 1054, which was widely observed on Earth in the year 1054...  (CM Tauri)	17
Vela Pulsar Vela Pulsar The Vela Pulsar is a radio, optical, X-ray and gamma-emitting pulsar associated with Vela Supernova Remnant, in the constellation of Vela.- Supernova origins :...	24
PSR B0540-69 (in the Large Magellanic Cloud Large Magellanic Cloud The Large Magellanic Cloud is a nearby irregular galaxy, and is a satellite of the Milky Way. At a distance of slightly less than 50 kiloparsecs , the LMC is the third closest galaxy to the Milky Way, with the Sagittarius Dwarf Spheroidal and Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy lying closer to the center... )	23
PSR B0656+14	26
PSR B0633+17 (Geminga Geminga Geminga is a neutron star approximately 250 parsecs away from the Sun in the constellation Gemini. Its name is both a contraction of "Gemini gamma-ray source", and gh'è minga "it's not there" in the Lombard dialect of Milan .- Pulsar :... )	25.5
PSR B1509-58 PSR B1509-58 PSR B1509-58 is a pulsar approximately 17,000 light-years away in the constellation of Circinus discovered by the Einstein X-Ray Observatory in 1982 . It is approximately 1700 years old and sits in a nebula that spans about 150 light years... (*)	25.7
*Source included but not discussed in paper by source paper.

External links

• "A Pulsar Discovery: First Optical Pulsar." Moments of Discovery, American Institute of Physics, 2007 (Includes audio and teachers guides).