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Man-Made Atomic Clocks the Best In the Universe

Posted by timothy on from the take-that-you-buncha-pulsars dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The widespread belief by astrophysicists that pulsars and white dwarfs are the best clocks in the universe is wrong, say two Australian physicists. John Hartnett and Andre Luiten from the University of Western Australia have recently shown that man-made terrestrial atomic clocks take the crown, contrary to numerous claims in astrophysical literature that the natural timing provided by pulsars and white dwarfs is the most precise. The preprint of their paper, available on the arXiv, shows that terrestrial clocks exceed the accuracy and stability of the astrophysical 'clocks' by all sensible measures, in some cases by several orders of magnitude."

11 of 267 comments (clear)

  1. Yeah thats right. by celticryan · · Score: 5, Funny

    Man > Nature... Take that religion!

    1. Re:Yeah thats right. by interkin3tic · · Score: 3, Funny

      Doesn't Man = Nature? :P

      It depends on how you dispose of your waste.

      Leaving it wherever: Nature
      Flush: Man
      Flinging it: Funny
      Burying it in gravel: Nature, but with an air of superiority

    2. Re:Yeah thats right. by Gilmoure · · Score: 2, Funny

      Yeah, yeah, where's their patent submission?

      Uh-huh, that's what I thought. Freakin' alien anonymous posters. Go back to Alienastistan or wherever you're posting from.

      --
      I drank what? -- Socrates
    3. Re:Yeah thats right. by ObsessiveMathsFreak · · Score: 4, Funny

      To which Religion retorts: "You can't disprove I didn't create you first, so therefore I did!"

      --
      May the Maths Be with you!
    4. Re:Yeah thats right. by Gravitron+5000 · · Score: 3, Funny

      It's hard not to be arrogant when you are purrfect.

  2. Relatively speaking... by Hatta · · Score: 5, Funny

    Isn't the best clock going to be one in your frame of reference?

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    Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
  3. Re:science journal DUH! by LucidBeast · · Score: 4, Funny

    Well, maybe your atom clock is more accurate, but my pulsar timepiece has way brighter display.

  4. Re:I hate to be condecending... by Deflagro · · Score: 2, Funny

    I prefer to be pedantic instead of condescending. hee hee :)

    --
    Der Tod ist der einzige Weg hier raus!
  5. The universe is 13.75 +/- .17 billion years old.. by Dalambertian · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...contrary to numerous claims in astrophysical literature that the natural timing provided by pulsars and white dwarfs is the most precise.

    Well now I know why astronomers have such huge error bars - they've been using pulsars to tell time!

  6. Re:I hate to be condecending... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    If you're genuinely interested, the subject is called general relativity and you can read about it in the science section of every bookstore. If you're just looking for a few paragraphs of info, JFGI

  7. Re:I hate to be condecending... by still+cynical · · Score: 5, Funny

    How much matter is in space?

    Strictly speaking, all of it.

    --
    Ignorance is the root of all evil.