ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Millisecond pulsar

Okay kiddo, a millisecond pulsar is a really cool type of star that spins super duper fast! Imagine spinning a toy top so fast that it spins around more than a thousand times per second - that's how fast a millisecond pulsar spins!

Now, you might be wondering what a pulsar is to begin with. Well, a pulsar is a type of star that emits beams of radio waves that we can detect here on Earth. These radio waves come from the pulsar's magnetic field, which is really strong because pulsars are made from super dense stuff called neutron stars.

Neutron stars are what's left over when a really big star explodes and collapses in on itself. They're incredibly compact and have a lot of mass packed into a small space. Because of this, they have very strong gravity and magnetic fields.

But back to millisecond pulsars. These stars are even more special because they spin so fast. Scientists think that they got this way by stealing material from a nearby star. Kind of like when you're playing with legos and you take some blocks from your friend to make your own creation bigger and better.

As the millisecond pulsar steals material from the other star, it spins faster and faster until it's spinning like crazy - faster than any other type of pulsar! It's like if you were on a merry-go-round and someone kept pushing it faster and faster until you felt like you were going to fly off.

But don't worry, even though millisecond pulsars are spinning really fast, they're still really far away from us and don't pose any danger. They're just really fascinating to study and help us learn more about the universe we live in.