Number 181 (Story #1), June 3, 1994 by Phillip F. Schewe and Ben Stein ASYMMETRIC SUPERNOVA EXPLOSIONS can impart a "kick" to the neutron star remnants born during the explosions. After a new reassessment, the proper motions (the motions across the sky) of 86 pulsars were found to have a mean velocity of 450 km/sec, which exceeds the escape velocities for a number of celestial systems, such as binary stars, globular clusters, and even for our galaxy. The University of Manchester (UK) astronomers who performed the study conclude that more than half of all pulsars will escape from the Milky Way and that those that stay will assume a larger and more spherical distribution than was previously thought. Therefore, the astronomers assert, this population of old, high-velocity pulsars might be responsible for more of the gamma bursts seen by the Gamma Ray Observatory than previously expected. (A.G. Lyne and D.R. Lorimer, Nature, 12 May 1994.)