Telescope finds new kind of star
16feb06
AN Australian telescope has exposed the shyest stars in our galaxy.
The small compressed neutron stars were found by an international team of astronomers using the CSIRO's (Commonwealth and Scientific Research Organisation's) Parkes radio telescope in the NSW central west.
The CSIRO's Dick Manchester, a member of the research team and a veteran pulsar hunter, said the coy stars, dubbed rotating radio transients (RRATs), had been hiding out in the Mily Way.
Most of the time they showed no activity, but once in a while they spat out a single burst of radio waves lasting between two and 30 milliseconds, he said.
"These things were very difficult to pin down," Dr Manchester said.
"For each object we've been detecting radio emission for less than one second a day.
"Because these are single bursts, we've had to take great care to distinguish them from terrestrial radio interference."
Despite this, the research team has managed to locate 11 RRATs, and expects to pinpoint up to 100,000 more.
"Many more must lurk unseen in our galaxy," Dr Manchester said.
The research team included scientists from institutions in the United Kingdon, the United States, Australia, Canada and Italy.
Its work will be published in this week's Nature journal.