A team of scientists claims that they have found a new way to measure the mass of a pulsar. They said this new met hid allows them to weigh a pulsar even if they are alone in space with no nearby object to use for reference.

So far the traditional way to measure the mass of a star, a planet or a moon is by studying the motion of the object in relation to the other nearby bodies.

The team of researchers from the University of Southampton presented their findings in the journal Science Advances. “For pulsars, we have been able to use principles of nuclear physics, rather than gravity, to work out what their mass is – an exciting breakthrough which has the potential to revolutionize the way we make this kind of calculation”, said university mathematician Wynn Ho.

The method as explained by the team uses a special property of pulsars i.e. the rotating electromagnetic beams of radiation which is emitted as they spin. These beams can be observed using telescopes as the beams sweep by earth, they said.

As per researchers, usually rotation rates of most of the pulsars are incredibly stable, young pulsars can occasionally exhibit glitches in which they briefly speed up. Astronomers believe that these glitches are the result of spinning superfluids inside the star.

The researchers said they’ve used -ray and radio data on pulsars to create a mathematical model to determine the mass of a pulsar seen to exhibit glitches. The frequency and magnitude of the pulsar's glitches depends on how much superfluid is in the star and its movement.

They also said by combining data gathered by observations with known nuclear physics the mass of the rotating star can be determined.

"For pulsars, we have been able to use principles of nuclear physics, rather than gravity, to work out what their mass is – an exciting breakthrough which has the potential to revolutionize the way we make this kind of calculation," says university mathematician Wynn Ho.

"Imagine the pulsar as a bowl of soup, with the bowl spinning at one speed and the soup spinning faster," explains Nils Andersson, a Southampton professor applied mathematics.