Astronomers have described the first measurements of plasma layers within an interstellar shock wave that surrounds a pulsar.

From our vantage point, this causes the pulsar to twinkle, or “scintillate”. The effect is similar to how turbulence in Earth’s atmosphere makes stars twinkle in the night sky. Pulsar ...

With the most powerful radio telescope in the southern hemisphere, we have observed a twinkling star and discovered an abundance of mysterious plasma structures in our cosmic neighborhood.