Guiyang, Xinhua News Agency, April 17 (Xinhua) -- The reporter learned from the FAST Operation and Development Center of the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences on the 17th that up to now, the 500-meter aperture spherical radio telescope (FAST), known as the "eye of China's sky", has discovered more than 900 new pulsars, including more than 120 binary pulsars, more than 170 millisecond pulsars, and 80 faint occasional pulsars, which has greatly expanded the limit of human observation of the universe.
The picture shows the panorama of "China Sky Eye" taken on February 26 (taken during maintenance). Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Ou Dongqu
Located in Pingtang County, Guizhou, the "China Sky Eye" is the world's largest and most sensitive single-aperture spherical radio telescope. In October 2017, the "China Sky Eye" announced the discovery of the first batch of new pulsars, which was the first time that the Chinese used their own independently developed radio telescope to discover pulsars.
The National Astronomical Observatory's Galamicular Pulsar Survey Project team has discovered more than 650 of the more than 900 new pulsars, and Han Jinlin, the project leader, told reporters that in the more than 50 years from the discovery of the first pulsar to the discovery of the first pulsars by FAST, there are less than 3,000 pulsars found in the world.
Schematic diagram of an AI-generated pulsar. Produced by Xinhua News Agency reporter Liu Xu
The number of pulsars discovered by the "China Sky Eye" is more than three times the total number of pulsars discovered by other telescopes in the world during the same period.
It is worth mentioning that most of the more than 900 new pulsars discovered by the "China Sky Eye" are faint pulsars that are difficult to detect by other telescopes in the world, including more than 120 binary pulsars, more than 170 millisecond pulsars, and 80 faint occasional pulsars.
"The 'Chinese Sky Eye' further expands the limits of human observation of the universe. Han Jinlin said.
The picture shows the panorama of "China Sky Eye" taken on February 26 (taken during maintenance). Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Ou Dongqu
Because each pulsar has its own special pulse and stable rotation frequency, they are equivalent to "lighthouses" in the universe with unique signal markers. Therefore, together they can build a "cosmic coordinate system" for human interstellar travel.
If humans can achieve "interstellar crossing" in the future, these pulsars will provide "navigation" for human beings to travel through the vast universe.
Imagine, if the scene in the movie "The Wandering Earth" comes true, when the earth is driven by a huge engine and heads towards the unknown and vast universe, these more than 900 pulsars will be more than 900 "cosmic lighthouses".
"We accurately measure the coordinates of pulsars in space, and monitor the phases and corresponding positions of multiple pulsar signals during the journey, so that human beings will not get lost in interstellar travel. Han Jinlin said.
The picture shows the night view of "China Sky Eye" taken on February 26 (taken during maintenance). Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Ou Dongqu
In recent years, the "China Sky Eye" has entered the stage of "more results" and "better results", observing the "pulse" of a black hole in the radio band for the first time, discovering the pulsar binary system with the shortest orbital period so far, and detecting and constructing the world's largest sample of neutral hydrogen galaxies...... "China Sky Eye" continues to produce heavyweight discoveries and make more Chinese contributions to the exploration of the mysteries of the universe.
At present, the annual observation time of FAST is stable at about 5300 hours, which plays an important supporting role in the continuous output of scientific research results.