First gamma-ray-only pulsar observed by NASA's space telescope

WASHINGTON, Oct. 16 (Xinhua) -- About three times a second, a 10,000-year-old stellar corpse sweeps a beam of gamma-rays toward Earth. This object, known as a pulsar, is the first one known to "blink" only in gamma rays, and was discovered by the Large Area Telescope (LAT) onboard NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope.

"This is the first example of a new class of pulsars that will give us fundamental insights into how stars work," says Stanford University's Peter Michelson, principal investigator for the LAT.

The gamma-ray-only pulsar lies within a supernova remnant known as CTA 1, which is located about 4,600 light-years away in the constellation Cepheus. Its lighthouse-like beam sweeps Earth's way every 316.86 milliseconds and emits 1,000 times the energy of our sun. These results appear in the Oct. 16 edition of Science Express.

news.xinhuanet.com...

Thought this was pretty cool and breaking news. It seems as if we learn something new everyday about "our" galaxy. Questions regarding the effects of said gamma rays in their 26,000 year cycle hopefully may now begin to be studied.

ColoradoJens

[edit on 17-10-2008 by ColoradoJens]

Could this be the reason for global warming??


Just kidding, but I think this is cool!

reply to post by bismarcksea


Ha! Yes it could be. The sweep of it's lighthouse like gamma rays makes it sound like it's coming from some cosmically gigantic Green Lantern.

ColoradoJens

Someone should actually research this and see if it is on a 26000 year cycle, as it targets our system.
Might answer a bunch of questions about climate and species changes.

reply to post by gotrox


It is on a one third of a second cycle. Clearly stated.

[edit on 17-10-2008 by Phage]

reply to post by gotrox


Yes. Every 26000 years, Gamma Rays from a distant pulsar forever change evolution. Astounding.

[edit on 10-17-2008 by Loki]

Loki: Yes, considering our "understanding" of the solar system changes each day seemingly; I believe we are going to find some life changing events are headed our way. Perhaps theses gamma rays are "god"?

ColoradoJens