Idaho Skies Transcript for May 11th, 12th, and 13th

PAUL
Welcome to Idaho Skies for May 11th, 12th, and 13th. We’re your hosts, Paul…

RACHEL
…and Rachel.

PAUL
Astronomer Anthony Hewish turns 94 on the 11th.

RACHEL
Hewish, where have I heard that name before?

PAUL
In 1974, he won the Nobel Prize in physics for his discovery of neutron stars.

RACHEL
Actually, his PhD student Joceyln Bell discovered neutron stars.

PAUL
Hewish was Bell’s PhD advisor and she was monitoring the mysterious quasars.

RACHEL
Her research involved recording the rapid changes in their radio signals.

PAUL
And in November 1967, Bell discovered something different, a regularly repeating radio pulse.

RACHEL
The signal turned on an off precisely every 1.3 seconds

PAUL
The signal’s pulses were too perfect, so she suspected its source was terrestrial or a satellite in Earth orbit.

RACHEL
It turned out that it wasn’t, the signal actually originated among the stars.

PAUL
Half jokingly, Bell and Hewish referred to the radio pulsar as a LGM, or little green men.

RACHEL
On account of how perfectly regular and precise the signal was.

PAUL
After their discovery of a second source, Hewish and Bell were convinced that the source had to be natural and astronomical.

RACHEL
Research had showed that collapsed stars could generate such perfect radio signals as they spun.

PAUL
But first, the atoms in those stars had to be crushed into neutrons.

RACHEL
So the pulsars that Bell discovered are actually neutron stars that are beaming radio waves our way as they rotate.

PAUL
And today astronomers have discovered over 2,000 pulsars.

RACHEL
That’s Idaho Skies for the 11th, 12th, and 13th of May.

PAUL
Be sure to follow us on Twitter @IdahoSkies for this week’s event reminders and sky maps.

For Idaho Skies this is Paul…

RACHEL
…and Rachel.

PAUL
Dark skies and bright stars.