13 questions · 7 almanac · 0 findings

Neutron Stars and Pulsars

Ultra-dense stellar remnants and their rotating beacons.

Almanac A Clock Nobody Built
  • What was unusual about the radio pulse Jocelyn Bell noticed in the chart-recorder data in August 1967?
  • Why did Bell's team briefly nickname the signal 'LGM-1' before settling on a natural explanation?
  • What is a neutron star, and how does its spin produce such a precisely timed radio pulse?
  • Why did the 1974 Nobel Prize for the pulsar discovery go to Bell's supervisor rather than to her?
Almanac A Continent-Sized Telescope, Built From Small Ones
  • What signal in the data first tipped off Antony Hewish's team to the existence of pulsars?
  • Why did Jocelyn Bell Burnell, who first spotted the pulsar signal, not share in the 1974 Nobel Prize?
Almanac Planets Around a Cinder of a Star
  • How did Aleksander Wolszczan detect planets orbiting a pulsar using radio pulse timing?
  • Why was it thought impossible for planets to exist around a pulsar before this discovery?
  • How might the planets around PSR B1257+12 have survived or formed after the supernova?