What to watch
- Run slowly to see the three distinct phases.
- Notice that the center and diagonals stay empty.
- The oscillator never emits debris despite a large active surface.
Oscillators
Pulsar
A large period-3 oscillator with strong fourfold symmetry.
The pulsar is one of the most recognizable Life patterns. Its period-3 cycle shows how repeated births and deaths can remain bounded.
- Category
- Oscillators
- Period
- 3
- Movement
- bounded
- Population
- 48 cells
- Bounding box
- 13 x 13
- Known since
- 1970
How to use it
Use it as the canonical visual example for bounded periodic motion.
Open the pattern in the lab, reduce the speed, and use single-step mode when a phase change is hard to see. The green preview marks births in the next generation; red outlines mark live cells that will die.