Astronomers have detected a new gamma ray pulsar. 'This is only the third known example of a gamma-ray pulsar, and only the second to be observed through low-energy gamma-rays,' says Gerald Fishman of NASA.
The new pulsar was detected by the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory, launched into Earth orbit in April 1991. Although the pulsar also produces radio and X-ray pulses, most of its energy is emitted as high-energy photons.
The two previous gamma-ray pulsars were discovered in 1969 and 1975. Each emits two pulses of gamma-rays for every rotation of the pulsar, but the new gamma-ray object, known as the Circinus Pulsar, gives out only one burst per rotation.
Theorists now need to explain how the pulsar's magnetosphere can generate such photons with such high energy. 'Observations are expected eventually to reveal pulsed energy at even higher energies,' says Robert Wilson of the Marshall Space Flight Centre.
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