  We discuss the possible appearance of strange exotic multi-quark states in
the interior of neutron stars and signals for the existence of strange quark
matter in the core of compact stars. We show how the in-medium properties of
possible pentaquark states are constrained by pulsar mass measurements. The
possibility of generating the observed large pulsar kick velocities by
asymmetric emission of neutrinos from strange quark matter in magnetic fields
is outlined.

Astrophysics;Nuclear Theory