Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

Dev.SN ♥ developers

Fast-Moving Pulsar

posted by LaminatorX on Friday February 21 2014, @10:30PM   Printer-friendly
from the it's-all-relative dept.

martyb writes:

"Scientists have discovered a pulsar (with an estimated mass of between 1.4 and 2 solar masses) traveling at an estimated 2.5 to 5 million mph (0.0035c to 0.007c). According to NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory:

Originally discovered with the European Space Agency satellite INTEGRAL, the pulsar is located about 60 light-years away from the center of the supernova remnant SNR MSH 11-61A in the constellation of Carina. Its implied speed is between 2.5 million and 5 million mph, making it one of the fastest pulsars ever observed.

By comparison, one of the fastest man-made objects is the Voyager-1 spacecraft, currently traveling at an estimated 38,100 mph relative to the sun, or approximately 0.000056c (5.6 x 10-5 c)."

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Fast-Moving Pulsar | Log In/Create an Account | Top | 1000 moderator points   | 19 comments | Search Discussion
Display Options Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.

  • (Score: 1) by khchung on Saturday February 22 2014, @04:31AM

    by khchung (457) on Saturday February 22 2014, @04:31AM (#4740)

    Then you would have to explain why a supernova would be asymmetrical enough to give a significant boost to the pulsar in any particular direction.

  • (Score: 1) by Daniel Dvorkin on Saturday February 22 2014, @11:19AM

    by Daniel Dvorkin (1099) on Saturday February 22 2014, @11:19AM (#4838)

    It looks like there isn't a solid explanation yet [wikipedia.org], but it certainly happens. IANAA, so if anyone who knows more about the subject would like to expound ...

    --
    Pipedot [pipedot.org]:Soylent [dev.soylentnews.org]::BSD:Linux