A newly found pulsar, known as PSR J0540-6919, is the first gamma-ray pulsar that has been discovered outside the Milky Way galaxy. NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope captured the pulsar. It is also the most luminous gamma-ray pulsar ever seen by astronomers.

The pulsar is 163,000 light-years far from our solar system. It is present on the outer edge of the Tarantula Nebula, which is an oft-studied area of the Large Magellanic Cloud, the Milky Way’s tiny satellite galaxy.

Scientists often study the Tarantula Nebula because it is among the closest and most active star-forming areas. Scientists have in fact come to know about this exciting source of gamma rays for some time but have so far misunderstood the source.

They have always thought that the gamma rays have generated as a result of collision of subatomic particles in the wake of violent supernova explosions. But, it turned out that the bursts were not a cumulative effect. The generation of them takes place by a singular source.

In a press release, lead scientist and an astrophysicist at the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) and the Research Institute in Astrophysics and Planetology in Toulouse, France, Pierrick Martin said, “It's now clear that a single pulsar, PSR J0540-6919, is responsible for roughly half of the gamma-ray brightness we originally thought came from the nebula. That is a genuine surprise”.

The announcement regarding the newly discovered gamma-ray pulsar was made by the researchers in a paper published in the journal Science.

J0540 is among the 2 pulsars recognized within the Tarantula Nebula. The other one is PSR J0537-6910.