Pulsars

Astronomers at Caltech and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory have discovered a pulsar caught in the act of escaping from the debris created during its violent formation only 15,000 years ago. Their observations, reported in Nature, show that the pulsar is the youngest and potentially the fastest moving neutron star yet discovered in our galaxy. The supernova remnant they studied has been a source of curiosity because of its unusual shape, which resembles a crossbow launching an arrow.

Albert Einstein has been dead for nearly 60 years, relatively speaking, and he's still being tested. Theoretically, at least. General relativity, the theory for which the German-born theoretical physicist is best known, holds up even in the more outlying phenomena of distant space, scientists have found. Astronomers studied a neutron star about 7,000 light years from Earth that is twice as heavy as our sun but only about 12 miles in diameter. The gravity of this spinning, highly magnetic star, or pulsar, is about 300 billion times stronger than the force that's holding your feet to the ground.

A multinational team of astronomers has found an unprecedented collection of stars that emit very fast bursts of energy--a discovery that may help in studying the formation of galaxies. The researchers reported last week in the journal Nature that they found 10 "millisecond pulsars" in a single cluster of other stars, almost doubling the known number of the objects. Pulsars are dense stars that appear to emit energy in very regularly spaced bursts.

Like celebrities who never travel without a companion, the brightest stars in the universe generally have their own companion: a second star that orbits close by. At least three-quarters of these extremely bright, exceptionally hot stars have such companions, according to the first survey of so-called O-type stars. An estimated 20% to 30% of the binary pairs will eventually merge, astronomers reported Thursday in the journal Science, and as many as another 50% of the O-type stars will have much of their hydrogen stripped away by their companions, which are commonly called vampire stars.

Most pulsars--spinning, super-dense neutron stars that emit powerful beams of radio waves and light--are much older than researchers previously believed, a discovery that challenges the standard theory about how pulsar signals are produced. Astronomers from MIT and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory have tracked a pulsar thought to be 16,000 years old since 1993.

MIT scientists believe they are observing the birth of a millisecond radar pulsar more than 12,000 miles away in the constellation Sagittarius. The star, spotted by NASA's Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer satellite during a monthlong burst of X-rays that began in April, could be a "missing link" in the evolution of stars, they report today in Nature.

Gravitational radiation -- the ripples in the fabric of space-time predicted in Einstein's General Theory of Relativity -- may be what saves the universe's fastest-rotating stars from spinning to death. Scientists said Wednesday at a NASA news conference that pulsars -- rapidly spinning stars that emit pulses of electromagnetic radiation like rotating lighthouse beacons -- have a speed limit of about 760 rotations per second.

In what has turned into a marathon lesson in humility, astronomers have discovered that something is terribly wrong with their understanding of pulsars, those mysterious radio beacons that were born during some of the universe's most violent moments. Until recently, astronomers thought they knew where to look for pulsars, which are remnants of exploding stars.

Scientists have discovered a distant planet where virtually no one would have expected it to be, orbiting a pulsar star that was born during one of the most violent events the universe has to offer, according to research published today. If confirmed, this would be the first planet discovered beyond our solar system.

Like celebrities who never travel without a companion, the brightest stars in the universe generally have their own companion: a second star that orbits close by. At least three-quarters of these extremely bright, exceptionally hot stars have such companions, according to the first survey of so-called O-type stars. An estimated 20% to 30% of the binary pairs will eventually merge, astronomers reported Thursday in the journal Science, and as many as another 50% of the O-type stars will have much of their hydrogen stripped away by their companions, which are commonly called vampire stars.

Gravitational radiation -- the ripples in the fabric of space-time predicted in Einstein's General Theory of Relativity -- may be what saves the universe's fastest-rotating stars from spinning to death. Scientists said Wednesday at a NASA news conference that pulsars -- rapidly spinning stars that emit pulses of electromagnetic radiation like rotating lighthouse beacons -- have a speed limit of about 760 rotations per second.

Most pulsars--spinning, super-dense neutron stars that emit powerful beams of radio waves and light--are much older than researchers previously believed, a discovery that challenges the standard theory about how pulsar signals are produced. Astronomers from MIT and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory have tracked a pulsar thought to be 16,000 years old since 1993.

Litronic Inc., an Internet security company that helps ensure the privacy and authenticity of online communications, plans to sell a 33% stake to new investors in an initial stock offering, according to regulatory documents. The Irvine-based company plans to sell 3 million shares for $9 to $11 each in conjunction with its proposed acquisition of Pulsar Data Systems Inc. in a moved to help Litronic expand its customer base.

MIT scientists believe they are observing the birth of a millisecond radar pulsar more than 12,000 miles away in the constellation Sagittarius. The star, spotted by NASA's Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer satellite during a monthlong burst of X-rays that began in April, could be a "missing link" in the evolution of stars, they report today in Nature.

Scientists say they have discovered two and possibly three planets orbiting a distant star, suggesting that other planetary systems can form under the most unfavorable conditions and probably are common throughout the universe. The discovery was presented today as part of a smorgasbord of astronomical discoveries that could rewrite a number of theories about the universe.

Astronomers at Caltech and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory have discovered a pulsar caught in the act of escaping from the debris created during its violent formation only 15,000 years ago. Their observations, reported in Nature, show that the pulsar is the youngest and potentially the fastest moving neutron star yet discovered in our galaxy. The supernova remnant they studied has been a source of curiosity because of its unusual shape, which resembles a crossbow launching an arrow.

Astronomers have discovered a tiny, rapidly rotating neutron star that appears to be murdering a companion sun in a case of celestial fratricide that promises to shed light on stellar evolution and death. The "eclipsing millisecond pulsar," the massive remnant of an exploded sun, and its companion white dwarf star are located in Terzan 5, a globular star cluster near the center of the Milky Way galaxy at a distance of about 24,000 light years.

An extremely unusual pulsar discovered a year ago in the remnants of a new supernova was actually only a spurious electronic signal from a television camera located on Earth, researchers confirmed Monday.

Scientists have discovered a distant planet where virtually no one would have expected it to be, orbiting a pulsar star that was born during one of the most violent events the universe has to offer, according to research published today. If confirmed, this would be the first planet discovered beyond our solar system.

A multinational team of astronomers has found an unprecedented collection of stars that emit very fast bursts of energy--a discovery that may help in studying the formation of galaxies. The researchers reported last week in the journal Nature that they found 10 "millisecond pulsars" in a single cluster of other stars, almost doubling the known number of the objects. Pulsars are dense stars that appear to emit energy in very regularly spaced bursts.