The world of neutron stars

artiteacher The interstellar Pioneer plaques

artiteacher Mapping the universe with pulsars

Follow the pulse, follow the pulse / Spinning stars will guide you home.

artiteacher Galactic GPS for spacecraft

artiteacher NASA's Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft carry plaques that use pulsars to map Earth's location for alien civilizations.

artiteacher Pulsars can act as natural navigation beacons, allowing spacecraft to calculate their position anywhere in deep space.

BETA

artiteacher Plot the cosmic radio signals to learn how astronomers map spinning neutron stars.

Fun Fact

Space maps: The Pioneer 10 and 11 plaques use 14 pulsars to map Earth's precise location for extraterrestrial life.

Glossary

pulsar (noun)
A rapidly spinning neutron star that emits regular pulses of electromagnetic radiation. The 1972 Voyager plaques mapped Earth's location in the Milky Way using fourteen of these stellar beacons.

Gossip

Should we keep sending maps to space?

Quiz

How many pulsars are mapped on the Pioneer plaques to show Earth's location?

artiteacher Pulsar timing arrays for gravity hunting

Quiz

What type of gravitational waves do pulsar timing arrays primarily detect?

artiteacher The future of cosmic mapping

Quiz

In which years were the Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft launched?

Quiz

What massive radio telescope project in Australia and South Africa will find thousands of new pulsars?

Quiz

How do pulsar timing arrays detect gravitational waves?

Quiz

What system uses pulsars to help spacecraft navigate deep space?

Quiz

Whose theory of gravity do scientists test using extreme pulsar systems?

Quiz

Which NASA instrument on the International Space Station tested pulsar navigation?