Indian scientists discover celestial clock
-From Kalyan Ray
The Deccan Herald
Thursday, September 15, 2005
Indraprasth (DH News Service) - Indian astronomers have
discovered the second-most energetic celestial object in
the Milky Way.
Exactly a week before Holi, three Indian astronomers
spent two-and-half hours gazing at the Pune skyscape. It
then looked pretty innocuous. Little did they know that
they were close to a major discovery.
Subsequent analysis, spanning over five months, revealed
that they had stumbled upon the second-most energetic
pulsar -- an esoteric celestial object that serves as the
most precise natural clock -- in the Milky Way.
A pulsar is an extremely dense rotating neutron star,
formed when the core of a star is crushed to a smaller
object with an enormously high magnetic field.
Since pulsars typically emit radio waves with extremely
accurate periodicity, they are dubbed as the most precise
natural clock. The astronomers at the National Centre for
Radio Astrophysics (NCRA) at Pune have not only spotted a
pulsar named J1833-1034, but also gathered evidence
supporting the theory that pulsars are born from the
relics of thunderous supernovae explosions -- the
commonest example being the Crab Nebula. "The discovery
is very important because it helps us understand better
the connection between pulsars and their prospective
birth places -- supernova remnants.
This connection is well established in theoretical
models, but experimental verification is still somewhat
limited," lead scientist Dr Yashwant Gupta told Deccan
Herald.
Using the giant meter-wave radio telescope (GMRT), the
NCRA team comprising Dr Gupta, D Mitra and A Acharyya,
along with Dr D A Green from Cavendish Laboratory in
Cambridge, picked up celestial signals to discover the
pulsar, associated with the supernovae remnant called
G21.5-0.9.
The pulsar is located roughly 12,000 light-years away
from the earth.
"G21.5-0.9 is a supernovae remnant that is a strong
candidate for harbouring a pulsar. However, searches for
this in both radio and X-ray spectrum have so far been
unsuccessful. The discovery of this pulsar is a major
breakthrough," the scientists reported in the journal
Current Science.
Besides being the second-most energetic one, this pulsar
aged 4,900 years is also among the ten youngest pulsars.
Its also the fourth highest amongst all pulsars,
including those in the Magellanic Clouds -- two irregular
dwarf galaxies orbiting the Milky Way galaxy.
More at:
http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/sep152005/index2113242005914.asp
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