Poltergeist of the Little Green Men by Nanosfera (Original Painting)

Poltergeist, etymologically “noisy spirit,” is a term belonging to the field of parapsychology used to refer to alleged paranormal phenomena that include telekinesis, materializations, unexplained sounds… The term became popular following the movie “Poltergeist” (1982), produced by Spielberg, in which an American family was haunted by one of these mischievous spirits.

On the other hand, in 1967, pulsars were discovered—neutron stars with extremely rapid rotation and intense magnetic fields detected in radio waves with astonishing regularity. At the time of their discovery, the amazement they triggered led to speculation about their possible connection to advanced extraterrestrial life. For this reason, somewhat ironically, the discoverers baptized the first of these objects as LGM-1, Little Green Man-1, referring to the classic image of extraterrestrials.

But what do the little green men from space have to do with poltergeists? Well, when exoplanets were first discovered, it was precisely around a pulsar, PSR B1257+12. Yes, as you read. Since pulsars are dead stars, and following that playful tendency typical of physicists, it was named Lich (a kind of spirit that returns from the dead). So, what better than to name its planets with names from the realm of the resurrected and the afterlife. And that’s how we arrive at poltergeist.