Astronomers at the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics in Pune discovered five new millisecond pulsars using India’s upgraded Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope

Astronomers at the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics in Pune discovered five new millisecond pulsars using India’s upgraded Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope

¨     Astronomers at the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics in Pune discovered five new millisecond pulsars using India’s upgraded Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (uGMRT).

¨     The pulsars were detected in the globular clusters Messier 69 and Messier 70, located in the Milky Way.

¨     These clusters are among the oldest and most densely packed stellar systems in our galaxy.

¨     Millisecond pulsars are rapidly rotating neutron stars with spin periods of just a few milliseconds.

¨     They typically form in binary systems, where mass transfer from a companion star increases the neutron star’s rotation speed.

¨     Globular clusters are spherical, gravitationally bound groups of stars containing very old stellar populations.

¨     Messier 69 and Messier 70 lie in the constellation Sagittarius.

¨     Of the five pulsars discovered, two were found in Messier 69 and three in Messier 70.

¨     One pulsar, M69A, is in a close binary system with a likely white dwarf companion.

¨     M69A completes one orbit around its companion every few days.

¨  This discovery helps improve understanding of neutron star evolution, binary star interactions, and dense stellar environments.