Today, you are a member of… Spin Up
Now that we are in November, Members, it’s time to celebrate the 1982 stellar evolutionary discovery of the first millisecond Pulsar, PSR B1937+21. Yes, this gyrating wonder and its 1.6 millisecond pulse period introduced the existence of subsecond spin for neutron star occurrences as well as the idea that pulsars can be produced, not just by flashy supernovae, but by the disappearing act of a companion star shape-shifting or “spinning up” into said rotational wonder. So this week, no matter how you get your interplanetary scintillation and what your spinning, keep your radio astronomy moving and know your speeds are something you can set a clock to.
