The pulsar PSR J1748-2446ad, located in the Sagittarius constellation, has become the fastest spinning neutron star ever observed.
Researchers from McGill University in Montreal, Canada, led by astronomer Jason Hessels, discovered this pulsar spinning at a rate of 716 rotations (716 hertz) per second, breaking the previous record of 642 rotations per second that had stood since 1982.
Until now, astronomers believed that 700 rotations per second was an unbreakable limit.
The pulsar PSR J1748-2446ad is part of a star cluster known as Terzan 5, located nearly 28,000 light-years away from Earth. The research team detected this pulsar using the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope in the United States.
Pulsars are stars that rotate around themselves and emit beams of radio waves or light with each rotation, much like a lighthouse. These are remnants of a massive star that exploded in a supernova before extinguishing. They have such dense material that it is estimated that a spoonful weighs as much as billions of tons.
British astronomers discovered pulsars in 1967, a finding that earned one of them a Nobel Prize. How pulsars emit beams of electromagnetic radiation remains a mystery.
T.D – Ho Chi Minh City Television
