A theoretical astrophysicist from the University of Kansas may have solved a nearly two-decade-old mystery over the origins of an unusual “zebra” pattern seen in high-frequency radio pulses from the Crab Nebula.

His findings have just been published in Physical Review Letters.

The Crab Nebula features a neutron star at its center that has formed into a 12-mile-wide pulsar pinwheeling electromagnetic radiation across the cosmos.