On October 10, at the National Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Li Di, deputy chief engineer of fast engineering, introduced the discovery process of new pulsars. As early as 1967, British female scientists discovered the pulse signal, so what is a pulsar? What is the significance of finding a pulsar?
On the same day, the National Astronomical Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences announced that the 500m aperture spherical radio telescope (fast), known as the 'Chinese sky eye', has successfully operated in a variety of observation modes, such as pointing, tracking, drift scanning, etc., after a year of intensive commissioning, and has confirmed a number of newly discovered pulsars. This is the first time that pulsars have been discovered by astronomical telescopes in China, less than one month after the death of Nan Rendong, the father of the eye.
So what's the new pulsar? What's the point of finding it? Once, the new pulsar signal could be considered as a signal from an alien!
As early as 1967, British female scientists discovered the pulsar signal. At that time, the pulsar signal received was radio wave, just like the previous telegraph signal, so it was thought to be from alien life. Later, however, Yu found signals from all directions, so everyone denied the idea of alien signals, because the possibility of sending signals to the earth at the same time is too small.
The most important thing is that the signals we received were actually sent out a long time ago. Take the discovery of new pulsars by the sky eye for example. These two pulsars are 156 light-years away from the earth and 4100 light-years away from the earth respectively. After the signal is transmitted, it will take 15600 years and 4100 years to reach the destination. Communication is basically impossible. This kind of star continuously sends out electromagnetic pulse signal, so it is named pulsar.
What's the significance of the discovery of new pulsars by SkyEye?
The significance lies in that it is the basis of scientific research, and only in the long run can its significance be made clear. Because pulsar can send electromagnetic pulse signal continuously, we can deduce the gravitational wave interference on the path according to its signal arrival time, so as to avoid it. Generally speaking, if people fly outside the solar system in the future, the current GPS navigation will not work, and then the deep space navigation can rely on the pulsar signal to complete.
The discovery of new pulsars by SkyEye is the first time that new pulsars have been discovered by radio telescopes in China, and also the first time that new pulsars have been discovered by Chinese people with their own telescopes. Speaking of this, it reminds us that a month ago, Nan Rendong, the father of heaven's eye, died of a disease. Fortunately, a new pulsar was discovered before his death. Now, the announcement of this positive result is also a consolation to his spirit in the sky.