Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




STELLAR CHEMISTRY
Pulsar with widest orbit ever detected
by Staff Writers
Charlottesville NC (SPX) May 05, 2015


This is an artist's impression of pulsar PSR J1930-1852 shown in orbit around a companion neutron star. Discovered by a team of high school students, this pulsar has the widest orbit ever observed around another neutron star. Image courtesy B. Saxton (NRAO/AUI/NSF). For a larger version of this image please go here.

A team of highly determined high school students discovered a never-before-seen pulsar by painstakingly analyzing data from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT). Further observations by astronomers using the GBT revealed that this pulsar has the widest orbit of any around a neutron star and is part of only a handful of double neutron star systems.

This impressive find will help astronomers better understand how binary neutron star systems form and evolve.

Pulsars are rapidly spinning neutron stars, the superdense remains of massive stars that have exploded as supernovas. As a pulsar spins, lighthouse-like beams of radio waves, streaming from the poles of its powerful magnetic field, sweep through space. When one of these beams sweeps across the Earth, radio telescopes can capture the pulse of radio waves.

"Pulsars are some of the most extreme objects in the universe," said Joe Swiggum, a graduate student in physics and astronomy at West Virginia University in Morgantown and lead author on a paper accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal explaining this result and its implications. "The students' discovery shows one of these objects in a really unique set of circumstances."

About 10 percent of known pulsars are in binary systems; the vast majority of these are found orbiting ancient white dwarf companion stars. Only a rare few orbit other neutron stars or main sequence stars like our Sun. The reason for this paucity of double neutron star systems, astronomers believe, is the process by which pulsars and all neutron stars form.

When a massive star goes supernova at the end of its normal life, the explosion can be a little one-sided, imparting a "kick" to the remaining stellar core. When this happens, the resulting neutron star is sent hurtling through space. These kicks - and the corresponding mass loss from a supernova explosion - mean that the chances of two such stars remaining gravitationally locked in the same system are remarkably slim.

This pulsar, which received the official designation PSR J1930-1852, was discovered in 2012 by Cecilia McGough, who was a student at Strasburg High School in Virginia at the time, and De'Shang Ray, who was a student at Paul Laurence Dunbar High School in Baltimore, Maryland.

These students were participating in a summer Pulsar Search Collaboratory (PSC) workshop, which is an NSF-funded educational outreach program that involves interested high school students in analyzing pulsar survey data collected by the GBT. Students often spend weeks and months poring over data plots, searching for the unique signature that identifies a pulsar. Those who identify strong pulsar candidates are invited to Green Bank to work with astronomers to confirm their discovery.

Astronomers determined that this new pulsar is part of a binary system, based on the differences in its spin frequency (revolutions per second) between the original detection and follow-up observations.

Optical telescope surveys of the same area of the sky, however, revealed no visible companion - which would have been clearly seen if it were a white dwarf star or main sequence star. "Given the lack of any visible signals and the careful review of the timing of the pulsar, we concluded that the most likely companion was another neutron star," said Swiggum.

Further analysis of the timing of the pulses indicates that the two neutron stars have the widest separation ever observed in a double neutron star system.

Some pulsars in double neutron star systems are so close to their companion that their orbital paths are comparable to the size of our Sun and they make a full orbit in less than a day. The orbital path of J1930-1852 spans about 52 million kilometers, roughly the distance between Mercury and the Sun and it orbits its companion once every 45 days.

"Its orbit is more than twice as large as that of any previously known double neutron star system," said Swiggum. "The pulsar's parameters give us valuable clues about how a system like this could have formed. Discoveries of outlier systems like J1930-1852 give us a clearer picture of the full range of possibilities in binary evolution."

Studies involving Pulsar Search Collaboratory discoveries are ongoing; as the PSC program continues, astronomers expect the 130 terabytes of data produced by the 17-million-pound GBT will likely reveal dozens of previously unknown pulsars.

The Pulsar Search Collaboratory is a joint project between the National Radio Astronomy Observatory and West Virginia University. The goal is to give high school students experience doing real research.

"This experience taught me that you do not have to be an 'Einstein' to be good at science," said McGough, who is now a Schreyer Honors College scholar at Penn State University in State College majoring in astronomy and astrophysics and physics. "What you have to be is focused, passionate, and dedicated to your work."

"As we look up into the sky and study the universe, we try to understand what's out there," said Ray, currently a student at the Community College of Baltimore County studying biology, engineering, and emergency medical services. "This experience has helped me to explore, to imagine, and to dream what could be and what we haven't seen."

The 100-meter Green Bank Telescope is the world's largest fully steerable radio telescope. Its location in the National Radio Quiet Zone protects the incredibly sensitive telescope from unwanted radio interference, enabling it to perform unique observations.


Thanks for being here;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once


credit card or paypal
SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5 Billed Monthly


paypal only


.


Related Links
National Radio Astronomy Observatory
Stellar Chemistry, The Universe And All Within It






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








STELLAR CHEMISTRY
NuSTAR Captures Possible 'Screams' from Zombie Stars
Pasadena CA (JPL) May 03, 2015
Peering into the heart of the Milky Way galaxy, NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) has spotted a mysterious glow of high-energy X-rays that, according to scientists, could be the "howls" of dead stars as they feed on stellar companions. "We can see a completely new component of the center of our galaxy with NuSTAR's images," said Kerstin Perez of Columbia University in N ... read more


STELLAR CHEMISTRY
Russia Invites China to Join in Creating Lunar Station

Japan to land first unmanned spacecraft on moon in 2018

Dating the moon-forming impact event with meteorites

Japan to land probe on the moon in 2018

STELLAR CHEMISTRY
UAE says on track to send probe to Mars in 2021

Traffic Around Mars Gets Busy

4,000+ Martian Days of Work on Mars!

US space agency chief confident of putting Americans on Mars in 2030s

STELLAR CHEMISTRY
NASA Confirms Electromagnetic Drive Produces Thrust in Vacuum

NASA pushes back against proposal to slash climate budget

Hawaii Says 'Aloha' to NASA's Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator

Blue Origin first vehicle test deemed success

STELLAR CHEMISTRY
Xinhua Insight: How China joins space club?

Chinese scientists mull power station in space

China completes second test on new carrier rocket's power system

China's Yutu rover reveals Moon's "complex" geological history

STELLAR CHEMISTRY
Progress Incident Not Threatening Orbital Station, Work of Crew

Russia loses control of unmanned spacecraft

Japanese astronaut to arrive in ISS in May

Liquid crystal bubbles experiment arrives at International Space Station

STELLAR CHEMISTRY
Successful SpaceX escape test 'bodes well for future'

ILS And Dauria announce Proton/Angara dual launch services agreement

India to launch 6 more satellites in 2015-16

SpaceX to test 'eject-button' for astronauts

STELLAR CHEMISTRY
New exoplanet too big for its star

Robotically discovering Earth's nearest neighbors

Astronomers join forces to speed discovery of habitable worlds

Titan's Atmosphere Useful In Study Of Hazy Exoplanets

STELLAR CHEMISTRY
Northwestern scientists develop first liquid nanolaser

Rubber from dandelions

Synthesis of silicon oxides opens 'new world in a grain of sand'

NASA Test Materials to Fly on Air Force Space Plane




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service.