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Science 31 March 2006:
Vol. 311. no. 5769, p. 1832
DOI: 10.1126/science.311.5769.1832b
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This Week in Science

Pulsars are fast-spinning neutron stars that emit flashing twin radio beams. For the last 23 years, the speed limit was set by the first such pulsar discovered, which rotates at 642 hertz. Hessels et al. (p. 1901, published online 12 January; see the Perspective by Grindlay) have now found an even faster pulsar that spins 716 times a second. This extreme pulsar was found with the giant Green Bank Telescope during a survey of the globular cluster Terzan 5. From the pulsar's rotation speed, the star's diameter is calculated to be less than 16 kilometers, and limits can be placed on mechanisms for braking of the system by gravitation radiation. The faintness of this pulsar suggests that even faster ones await discovery.




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