An international team of astronomers has discovered and cataloged 300 new neutron stars. The study was published in the scientific publication The Astrophysical Journal (TAJ). This discovery was made possible by the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. Before its launch in 2008, humanity knew of the existence of pulsars, which last less than 10 milliseconds, or neutron stars that rotate up to hundreds of times per second. Based on the results of their study, astronomers concluded that the neutron star cluster they discovered is home to several “spider pulsars.” This name comes from the fact that female black widow spiders appear to eat their neighbors, just as they eat males.

“We were very encouraged by how many millisecond pulsars we were able to detect using gamma rays; these fast pulsars remain among nature’s most accurate timekeeping devices,” said one of the study authors. said astrophysicist Matthew Carr. Millisecond pulsars can actually be used as clocks from space, recording the low-frequency gravitational waves they emit. Thanks to the discoveries of researchers, in the distant future science will be able to better study the principles of galaxy formation and use pulsars for navigation during spaceflight.

source: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/acee67