CCTV News: The reporter learned from the FAST Operation and Development Center of the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences on April 17 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, which has greatly expanded the limit of human observation of the universe.
Super sensitivity, precise locking, greatly enriching the pulsar database
Located in Pingtang County, Guizhou, the "China Sky Eye" is the world's largest and most sensitive single-aperture spherical radio telescope. The newly discovered pulsars of "China Sky Eye" FAST include at least more than 120 binary pulsars, more than 170 millisecond pulsars, and 80 faint occasional pulsars.
FAST found that the number of pulsars was more than three times the international total for the same period
In the 50 years since the discovery of the first pulsar in 1967 to the discovery of the first pulsar by FAST in October 2017, more than 3,000 pulsars have been discovered worldwide. The number of pulsars discovered by the "China Sky Eye" so far is more than three times the total number of pulsars discovered by other telescopes in the world at the same time.
Expand the range of human observation of pulsar radiation intensity
The "China Sky Eye" has expanded the scope of human observation of pulsar radiation intensity, and most of the new pulsars it has discovered are "faint pulsars" that are difficult to find by other telescopes in the world.
It is expected that pulsar discoveries will exceed 1,000 in 2024
Jiang Peng, chief engineer of FAST in China's Sky Eye, said that whether the number of pulsars discovered will be expanded to 1,000 in 2024? Will it be possible to find a pulsar black hole binary star system? This will be a work that subverts human cognition.
The discovery of nearly 100 "faint pulsars" has helped to reveal the unknown
According to reports, the newly discovered nearly 100 faint occasional pulsars have an order of magnitude lower radiant flux density than normal pulsars. The study of these occasional pulsars is of great significance for understanding how many dense neutron star remnants are formed after the death of stars in the Milky Way and for revealing unknown pulsed radiation physics processes.
"China Sky Eye" has entered the stage of "more good results".
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 star system with the shortest orbital period to date, detecting and constructing the world's largest neutral hydrogen galaxy sample...... "China Sky Eye" continues to produce heavyweight discoveries, and makes 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, and the continuous improvement of FAST performance has played an important supporting role in the continuous production of scientific research results.
Source: CCTV