Slashdot Mirror


Fermi Satellite Clocks Pulsar Going 2.5 Million Miles Per Hour (upi.com)

schwit1 quotes UPI: Astronomers have discovered a pulsar traveling at unprecedented speeds. Observations by NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope suggest the star is moving through space at 2.5 million miles per hour.... "Thanks to its narrow dart-like tail and a fortuitous viewing angle, we can trace this pulsar straight back to its birthplace," Frank Schinzel, a scientist at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in New Mexico, told NASA. "Further study of this object will help us better understand how these explosions are able to 'kick' neutron stars to such high speed...."

Scientists named the high-speed pulsing star PSR J0002+6216, or J0002 for short. The star is located in the Cassiopeia constellation, 6,500 light-years from Earth... Analysis of the pulsar's trajectory and pulsing tail suggest the spinning neutron star was ejected by a supernova named CTB 1. Scientists estimated J0002 was expelled from CTB 1 approximately 10,000 years ago.

Scientists aren't totally sure how J0002 accelerated to such tremendous speeds. In the wake of the supernova explosion from which the pulsar originated, expelled gas and dust from the exploded companion star likely outraced J0002. Eventually, the shell of stellar shrapnel was slowed by interactions with interstellar gas, but astronomers theorize that some of stellar debris may have coalesced into a region of dense matter, forming a "gravitational tugboat" that is pulling J0002 through space.

J0002 was discovered by "citizen scientists" scanning data from NASA's Fermi satellite, according to the article.

"Participants in the Einstein@Home project have identified 13 gamma ray pulsars."

59 comments

  1. Some things by Artem+S.+Tashkinov · · Score: 5, Informative

    For those who have long abandoned the imperial units that's around 4 million kilometers per hour, or 3.7% of the speed of light.

    1. Re:Some things by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      0.37% speed of light

    2. Re:Some things by Artem+S.+Tashkinov · · Score: 1

      You're right. Lost one zero (don't know how) and I cannot edit the original post.

      What a shame :(

    3. Re:Some things by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Where are the Space Traffic Cops? 3.7c is speeding!
      Also noteworthy - 10,000 years, not millions, billions or other quasi-science numbers.

    4. Re:Some things by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      how many football fields a second is that?

    5. Re:Some things by Dunbal · · Score: 2

      So where the heck did it get all that momentum?

      --
      Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
    6. Re:Some things by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We are inching our way towards the metric system.

    7. Re:Some things by jcarr · · Score: 1

      6,500 / .37 means it'd only take 17k years to get here. Thank goodness it's not going to hit Earth. They would have to completely remake the movie Melancholia.

    8. Re:Some things by sheramil · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Something else lost it.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity_assist

    9. Re:Some things by rtb61 · · Score: 1

      A super nova is an exploding sun. So one sun in orbit of another sun. At detonation, one sun loses a lot of mass, blown out into space, a whole lot of mass, and compresses the core. So substantially altered gravitational fields, releasing the sun from orbit, plus a whole lot of gravitational mass rushing past it as well as the direct impact of the shockwave. Then you have the electromagnetic impact, do they have same basic charge and now repel each other, the exploding and expanding sun and the orbiting sun, which is doing a discarding sabot thing, also losing a lot of mass, blown away and a directional compression of it's core, a big electromagnetic catapult, in conjunction with the shock wave and gravitational sling shot, escape from orbit and chasing the ejected mass, gravitationally, as well as the original orbital inertia and then of course, the speed of the original solar system in space.

      Of course the most interesting subject, is anything in it's path, how far away is it and when will it impact. That is what everyone wants to know, hell it might even have run into something and we just haven't seen it yet.

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
    10. Re:Some things by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      At 0.37% the speed of light, the right operation is 6,500 / 0.0037 = 1.7+ million years.

    11. Re:Some things by The+Snazster · · Score: 1

      0.37% speed of light

      Yep, a bit over a third of one percent of the speed of light. Which means that on a space station orbiting it, the rate of time would be so slow that, for each 365 days that pass on Earth, they would only experience around 364 days, 23 hours, and 55.5 minutes.

      Over a period of a million years their clocks would fall behind ours by about 6.83 years! Everyone get the same math?

    12. Re:Some things by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      0.37% speed of light

      Unless you're using metric like that other guy.

      I'll switch to metric when you start using

      • "kiloseconds" instead of hours and megaseconds instead of weeks.
      • Or "millidays" instead of minutes (a milliday is about 0.7 minutes).
    13. Re:Some things by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This could be (E = mc^2) at work. If that is the case then the energy could be coming directly from matter converting into energy.

      A poster below talks about a binary system. I wasn't my understanding of this supernova, or maybe I made an assumption. However I assumed that this was an asymmetric supernova resulting in ejection of the supernova core from the supernova remnant debris cloud. There is no binary system required.

      A binary system scenario is still possible though. It's fairly finely tuned if a supernova in a binary system results in this. And even if it does, Equal and Opposite Force Law suggests that the supernova core would be ejected in the opposite direction... Depending on the masses involved, that might cause the supernova core to also leave the supernova remnant.

  2. Frame of reference by zdzichu · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Its speed is relative to what?

    --
    :wq
    1. Re:Frame of reference by 110010001000 · · Score: 1

      Apparently the speed is relative to Europe.

    2. Re:Frame of reference by Gabest · · Score: 1

      The center of the universe, me.

    3. Re:Frame of reference by manu0601 · · Score: 1

      Its speed is relative to what?

      Odds are good that it is against geocentric or heliocentric frame of reference, the paper will tell that. However if you are looking for an absolute frame of reference, CMB is there to help.

    4. Re:Frame of reference by ls671 · · Score: 1

      Na it's relative to the speed of light which is absolute.
      http://www.einstein-online.inf...

      --
      Everything I write is lies, read between the lines.
    5. Re:Frame of reference by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Na it's relative to the speed of light which is absolute.
      http://www.einstein-online.inf...

      Only from a certain point of view...

  3. Stating the obvious: relative to us. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    2 trains pass each other, moving opposite directions at 50mph each.
    To observers on either train, the other is going 100mph. OMG! Why is their train faster than mine?!

  4. Sir ... by PPH · · Score: 1

    Do you know why I pulled you over?

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
    1. Re:Sir ... by quenda · · Score: 1

      Cop: you were doing exactly 112.604 km/hr
      Physicist: now I'm lost!

  5. 1.1x10^6 m/s by addikt10 · · Score: 4, Informative

    1.1E6 m/s
    Or .0037c

  6. Mph? by 110010001000 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Why not translate it into the units I understand? What is that in Celsius??*

    Every European in Slashdot

    1. Re:Mph? by HornWumpus · · Score: 4, Funny

      6.7 billion (thousand million) furlongs/fortnight.

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
    2. Re: Mph? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How many Debye lengths is that?

    3. Re:Mph? by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 1

      Why don't you fund your own research and stop complaining about the Americans doing their own? Then you can have all the Celsius you want!!

      Every American on Slashdot, an American website.

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    4. Re:Mph? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No one has added an obligatory XKCD link yet?

      https://xkcd.com/1923/

  7. Miles!?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    What kind of backwords shithole country still measures shit in unscientific miles??

    1. Re: Miles!?! by reanjr · · Score: 0

      Ones that produce all the science and technology the rest of the world uses.

    2. Re: Miles!?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What sort of backward shithole coutry speaks any language except english?
      Diversity of thought, can you understand it?

    3. Re: Miles!?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Diversity of thought, can you understand it?

      Qué?

  8. That's no pulsar... by mamba-mamba · · Score: 2

    That's no pulsar...

    --
    By including this sig, the copyright holders of this work or collection unreservedly place it in the public domain.
  9. Tremendous speeds by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Scientists aren't totally sure how J0002 accelerated to such tremendous speeds.

    I appreciate this is an embarrassingly basic question but what does that actually mean? Is it that everything else is basically 'still' relative to us? Or is it more that this object has a natural 'home' of surrounding objects that you'd expect it to stay with but in fact is moving away from?

    1. Re:Tremendous speeds by UperPoti · · Score: 2

      NASA article The speed is relative to the Fermi Satellite. The distance was measured between the center of the supernova cloud and its current position at 53 light-years. The supernova responsible for CTB 1 occurred about 10,000 years ago. 53 light years / ~10000 years ~= 5 720 040.1 kilometers per hour.

  10. Metric superiority by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Good old metric system where everyone fucks up the decimal places with it.

    1. Re:Metric superiority by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Good old metric system where everyone fucks up the decimal places with it.

      Yeah, don't you know Imperial units use octal instead of decimal? Fuck base ten!

  11. Is or was? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It looks like there is a mistake "is moving through space at 2.5 million miles per hour". Due to how the speed of light works, they'd be seeing how fast it was going, not how fast it is going.

    1. Re:Is or was? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It seems the press release is presented as totally useless information. Is/Was? Who cares when the estimated velocity is presented in units that have no meaning in the domain of measurement. In astronomical terms, people want to know speed relative to some standard unit like speed relative to light, or meters per second in scientific notation so the comparison can be made easily. Even speed relative to galactic rotation or some other astrophysical value.

      Miles per hour, what the fuck? Is instead of was, equally lame. Some non STEM douche has made their own attempt to translate and present the data to the masses. Fail.

  12. Main link is behind a no-adblocker wall. by Mal-2 · · Score: 1

    Anyone have an alternate for the main link? I turn my adblocker off only when I get an assurance, in writing, that the site will cover all my expenses if I get drive-by malware.

    --
    How is the Riemann zeta function like Trump rallies? Both have an endless number of trivial zeros.
    1. Re:Main link is behind a no-adblocker wall. by cathector · · Score: 1

      the root seems to be nasa:
      https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2019/nasa-s-fermi-satellite-clocks-cannonball-pulsar-speeding-through-space

  13. Don't worry. I know a guy... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I know a guy who can get that speeding ticket thrown out.

    1. Re:Don't worry. I know a guy... by HornWumpus · · Score: 1

      Converted into a 'defective speedometer' fix it ticket.

      You should have seen the cop's reaction in court. It was priceless, but I did have to move, it was only 110 in a 25.

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
  14. If It Ever Gets Caught... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    it would be one heck of an expensive speeding ticket!

  15. In your wet redneck dreams! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Sorry, the times where the USA were leading anything but destruction and illness are loong gone.

    "Your" researchers are all foreigners. Back then Germans that came over, now south-/east-Asians, wandering off to Germany and Canada.

    And "your" products are made in China and south-east Asia too.

    Just like your tits and Eiffel towers and food and elections and personalities and media, they're the epitome of fake.

    In fact, if you want to describe the USA in one word, it would be "fake".

    1. Re: In your wet redneck dreams! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Also the home of what you are posting on, them interwebz

  16. The dumbest commin denominator? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    English is what you get, if you take German, add centuries of extreme alcoholism (helloo gin!), and then try to save it with largr doses of the snobbery languages du jour: French and Latin.

    Call us when you got your ambiguities fixed (try compound words) and your spelling rules follow one system instead of having two and not giving a fuck about either.
    I don't even expect being able to express nuances a subtle as in German.

  17. That's just your mom by Snotnose · · Score: 0

    After seeing the size of my dick

    Where did you mom jokes come from?
    I don't think I ever heard one 10 years ago
    Now they're everywhere.

    1. Re: That's just your mom by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Donâ(TM)t know where youâ(TM)ve been all these years. We had mom jokes when I was in elementary school. Over forty years ago.

    2. Re: That's just your mom by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Over 60 years ago.

  18. Ehh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm sure Scotty can get some more outta her.

  19. We have ad blocker blocker blockers now. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    uBlock has a list for blocking those ad blocker detectors. Try enabling that and clearing your cookies.

  20. Where is the Galactic Highway Patrol? by maroberts · · Score: 1

    Someone should arrest these speeding pulsars in case they crash into something!

    --

    Donte Alistair Anderson Roberts - hi son!
    Karma: Chameleon

  21. Relativistic speeds by Confused · · Score: 1

    I'm a bit disappointed. I was hoping it moves at relativistic speeds. Unfortunately 0.37% of c isn't even getting close.

  22. Are bad jokes all Slashdot has become? by Macdude · · Score: 1

    Opened this article looking for some insightful comments about what this means, how this will impact our understanding of space and the universe and what do I get? A bunch of jokes about the use of the term 'miles'. [sigh]

    --
    "Grab them by the pussy" -- President of the United States of America
  23. Like A Bat Out Of Hell by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Pulsar going like a Bat Out Hell, she's gone, gone, gone!

  24. Voltron! by skaag · · Score: 1

    This is not a pulsar, it's Voltron on its way to save another planet.

    Jokes aside: At this distance how do we know this isn't some massive spaceship traveling at nearly the speed of light?

    --

    All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain... time... to... die...