Age Of Most Pulsars Is Now A Mystery

Guinnessy writes "A pulsar that has been viewed by the Very Large Array in New Mexico for the past ten years, is only 65,000 years old not 107,000 years as astronomers previously thought. The new results suggest that the main techniques that astronomers use for measuring the age of pulsars is completely wrong. There's a press release about it the NRAO's web site."

Comments

I will reply to your obvious troll.

[Treeluvinhippy]

I wonder how long it will be before the American public gets so fed up with these "scientists" who seem to be constantly getting it wrong that they cease to pay any attention to them at all.

Ok if you haven't figured it out by now this is how it works. Scientists have Problem A, they make Theory A to explain Problem A. Later after experimentation and more data collection, they may learn that Theory A is incorrect because they didn't know so and so fact about said problem. Thus they come up with Theory B and so on and so forth. The majority of the American public kind of understands this philosophy without a problem.

First we get 'global warming' then other scientists disagree

Exactly the professionals who make it their daily work to understand how the ozone layer and other aspects the atmosphere have too little data to make a single theory. They're disagreement is about what theory most likely describes what is occurring in our atmosphere. Again this is under constant revision as understanding increases.

Then the NASA morons cannot even get a simple thing like a mars probe to land

If landing a mars probe is so easy then you do it.

they launch that hubbard space telescope which didn't work.

Have you been living under a rock? Fisrt, it is the HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE! It's named after Erwin Hubble who discovered the fudemental structure of galaxies and how they are moving away from each other. I have know idea who Hubbard is. The Hubble makes the cover of Newsweek at least twice a year with some beautiful astrophoto of something or the other. (The Eagle Nebula is my personal favorite.) The mirror was of by like .00005 of an inch or some hideously small number like that back when they launched. They had to send a repair mission and make the equalivent of glasses for the telescope. Again if you think putting a telescope in LEO, lined up perfectly so that it can be centered on one portion of the sky for upwards of a week, while traveling around the earth at 17.5 miles per second making allowances for bright objects like the sun and the moon that tend to get in the way is so easy, then you do it.

Scientists these days are just stupid and lazy. I blame the terrible state of America's education system.

Thank you for your wonderful and educated assessment of our education system. I am sure your schools produce brighter students then anywhere else, with little Einsteins in every other chair. If you would excuse me I have to reply to another troll who is bitching about how the said products of our flawed education system (Who happen to know the correct name of the space telescope by the way) seem to be on the way to economicly and militarily dominate the rest of the world. Have a nice day.