China's FAST telescope identifies over 1,000 pulsars

An aerial drone photo taken on Sept. 25, 2024 shows China's Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST) under maintenance in southwest China's Guizhou Province. (Xinhua/Ou Dongqu)

China's Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST), the world's largest filled-aperture and most sensitive radio telescope, has identified more than 1,000 new pulsars, its operator said on Tuesday.

The number of new pulsars discovered by FAST has surpassed that of all foreign telescopes combined during the same period, according to the National Astronomical Observatories under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC).

Pulsars, or fast-spinning neutron stars, originate from the imploded cores of massive dying stars through supernova explosions.

Han Jinlin, scientist of the NAOC, explained that since each pulsar has its own pulse and rotation frequency, it is a bit like a lighthouse in the universe.

If human beings can travel to other planets in the future, the pulsars could work as the navigation system, Han added.

"We can accurately measure the coordinates of pulsars in the universe and monitor the phase positions of pulsar signals and their corresponding position relations, so humans don't get lost during interstellar travel," Han explained.

The pulsars identified by FAST include many binary pulsars and millisecond pulsars, enhancing both the variety and number of pulsars studied, and contributing to human understanding of their formation and evolution.

The telescope, located in a naturally deep and round karst depression in southwest China's Guizhou Province, has a reception area equal to 30 standard football fields.

FAST started formal operations in January 2020 and was officially opened to the world in March 2021.