Optical pulsar announcedIn 1969, the New York Times made public the news of the discovery a few days earlier of the first optical pulsar by astronomers at the University of Arizona on 16 Jan 1969. It was the result of a year's search using a stroboscopic technique. Flashes of light in the optical range were found coming from the same location in the Crab Nebula as a previously known pulsar emitting radio bursts. The rate of pulsation of the two signals was found to be the same, and thus presumed to be from a single star. Other observatories were immediately notified and the flashing was confirmed by the McDonald Observatory and by the powerful 84-inch reflector telescope at the Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona. The star was flashing at a rate of about 30 times per second, with intermediate flashes of lesser intensity. |