This artist's conception illustrates 1E 1207.4-5209, a neutron star with a polar hot spot and a strong magnetic field (purple lines). The neutron star is about 7,000 light years from Earth. The graph in the box to the right of the star shows the expected (dashed blue line) and the observed (solid green line) spectra of the X-radiation from the hot spot. The dips in the observed spectrum are absorption features due to gas in the atmosphere of the neutron star.
