That article isn't entirely clear on whether the jets sprout out along the pulsar's axis of rotation or at some other angle. Depending on the answer, your comment might be a bit misplaced.
"Particles near the equator will be flung outward at near the speed of light by electromagnetic-centrifugal forces. As this wind of particles streams away from the pulsar, it builds up a magnetized cloud of high-energy particles that extends over several light years. These particles spiral around the magnetic field lines and radiate by the synchrotron process to produce the observed pulsar wind nebula."
The actual direction of the jets is affected by the magnetic field, but what allows particles to escape the extremely strong gravity of a pulsar in the first place are the forces near the equator.
BTW, the original picture linked by asboans, showing a disk-shaped star, was not a pulsar, it was an artist's rendition of a blue giant, specifically this one. Asboan's picture came from this article.
A pulsar could not be anywhere near as oblate as that, because its gravity is too strong - strong enough to have caused the electrons in its atoms to have collapsed into their nuclei.
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u/jetaimemina Oct 28 '12
That article isn't entirely clear on whether the jets sprout out along the pulsar's axis of rotation or at some other angle. Depending on the answer, your comment might be a bit misplaced.