Scientists discover a young and energetic neutron star with an unusually irregular rotation Pulsars are superlative cosmic beacons. These compact neutron stars rotate about their axes many times per second, emitting radio waves and gamma radiation into space. Using ingenious data analysis methods, researchers from the Max Planck Institutes for Gravitational Physics and [continue reading]
Astrosat, the astronomy satellite India will put in polar circular orbit in 2013, will study the Universe at multi-wavelengths for the first time. Astrosat, the multi-wavelength astronomy satellite. Credit: ISRO. “The Astrosat mission will study for the first time the cosmic sources of the vast Universe at optical, ultraviolet and X-ray wavebands simultaneously,” state-run Indian Space [continue reading]
NASA is scheduled to launch an orbiting X-ray satellite on Wednesday (June 13) that will open a new window on the universe, allowing scientists to probe the roiling edges of black holes, the turbulent outflow from exploding stars, and the smallest, most frequent flares on the sun. Artist’s concept showing NASA’s NuSTAR mission orbiting [continue reading]
Although the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has seen the gamma-rays from over 100 pulsars, many potential pulsars remain undiscovered because the pulsations are not obvious in the Fermi data. Combining radio observations with Fermi, scientists have now found five more rapidly rotating pulsars, including one particularly intriguing object, indicating that techniques will continue to [continue reading]
Astronomers are using pulsars throughout the Milky Way Galaxy as a giant scientific instrument to directly detect gravitational waves. Pulsars are spinning neutron stars. Credit: Bill Saxton, NRAO/AUI/NSF Pulsars, superdense neutron stars, are perhaps the most extraordinary physics laboratories in the universe. Research on these extreme and exotic objects already has produced two Nobel [continue reading]