(Web Desk) - Scientists at Japan’s Kobe University have managed to snap the most detailed image of a pulsar, a kind of neutron star that flashes gamma radiation into the cosmos like a lighthouse.
They achieved the feat by stacking layers and layers of photographic film on top of each other and sending them up into the sky on a balloon.
Using the data they collected, the researchers were able to determine how many particles were in a ray of gamma radiation from the distant star.
This kind of powerful radiation can be difficult to study because it doesn’t interact with matter in the same way as light.
Because the layers of film are stacked together, the scientists could also tell which direction the particles were headed — they compare it to using a straw to poke a hole in a stack of pancakes.
The resulting image, published today in the The Astrophysical Journal, is the most detailed ever photograph of the Vela pulsar, a 12-mile wide neutron star located around 1,000 light-years from Earth that rotates 11 times every second.
"We captured a total of several trillion tracks with an accuracy of 1/10,000 millimeters," said lead researcher Aoki Shigeki in a statement.
"By adding time information and combining it with attitude monitoring information, we were able to determine 'when' and 'where' the events originated with such precision that the resulting resolution was more than 40 times higher than that of conventional gamma-ray telescopes."
Shigeki added that he’s hopeful his team’s experimental technique will open up new ways of studying these far-off and bizarre phenomena.
"By means of scientific balloon-borne experiments, we can attempt to contribute to many areas of astrophysics, and in particular to open up gamma-ray telescopy to 'multi-messenger astronomy' where simultaneous measurements of the same event captured through different techniques are required," he said.