Star Clocks

(SFX: clock ticking and chiming)

          MANKIND INVENTED CLOCKS, BUT LONG BEFORE THAT NATURE
INVENTED THINGS AS REGULAR AS CLOCKWORK. BEATING HEARTS, THE TIDES, THE
ROTATING EARTH, JUST TO NAME A FEW. OUT IN THE MILKY WAY, SAYS
ASTROPHYSICIST DALE FRAIL AT THE NATIONAL RADIO ASTONOMY OBSERVATORY,
ARE SOME OF THE VERY FASTEST NATURAL CLOCKS OF ALL--ROTATING PULSARS.
THESE ARE THE BURNT OUT REMAINS OF EXPLODING STARS, SPINNING ON THEIR AXES
AT UP TO A FANTASTIC 800 TIMES PER SECOND.

     FRAIL:"if you can imagine a star rotating at 800 times a second.  our own sun rotates once. .
.about every 30 days, so these things are spinning very very rapidly and as they spin . . . we see a beam of
light very much like a lighthouse sweeping pass us." 

     A PULSAR CONTAINS THE MASS OF THE SUN CONDENSED DOWN INTO A SPHERE
THE SIZE OF NEW YORK CITY.  IT'S SO DENSE, AND MOVING SO FAST IN A VACUUM THAT
NOTHING CAN REALLY SLOW IT DOWN.  EACH SPIN, AND EACH SWEEP OF IT'S
LIGHTHOUSE BEAM, IS SO REGULAR THAT IT'S MORE ACCURATE THAN AN ATOMIC
CLOCK.  SOMETHING SO PRECISE CAN BE USED TO MEASURE ALL SORTS OF EFFECTS IN
THE GALAXY. FOR ONE THING, IF THE PRECISION OF THESE REGULAR PULSES CHANGES,
YOU KNOW THAT SOMETHING WEIRD IS GOING ON AS FRAIL AND HIS COLLEAGUES DID
WHEN EXAMINING THE LIGHT BEAMS FROM ONE INTERESTING PULSAR.

     FRAIL: "the arrival of these pulses was not coming in a regular manner and after spending a fair
amount of time working on this, we decided that the interpretation was that the pulsar had around it at least
two planets." 

     PLANETS OUTSIDE OUR SOLAR SYSTEM IS BIG NEWS, SINCE THEY'RE INCREDIBLY
HARD TO DETECT. THE FURIOUSLY SPINNING PULSAR CLOCKS ARE HELPING TO STUDY
OTHER GALACTIC EVENTS AS WELL, PROVING THAT EVEN OUT IN SPACE, IT'S ALL IN
THE TIMING.