back to article Ancient pulsar still radiating like a young 'un

NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has detected what the agency describes as a "surprisingly active" ancient pulsar - the oldest such body ever spied in the X-ray band and still radiating after around 200m years. PSR J0108-1431, aka J0108 for those in a hurry, lies at around 770 light-years from Earth. It's an "isolated" pulsar …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    Ummm...

    1) "similar to a lighthouse beam" (see artist's impression, right) That looks nothing like a lighthouse, I've seen a couple and I know!

    2) Us old 'uns have to do things effeciently, especially after our knees go.

    Paris 'cos she can come and measure the temporature and size of my heated reagions any time.

  2. Kenneth Chan
    Gates Halo

    Better byline

    Inter galactic viagra at work!

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Alien

    a bit of scientific arrogance?

    'J0108 has now slowed to a speed of "slightly faster than one revolution per second", although it continues to be "much brighter in X-rays than was expected for a pulsar of such advanced years".'

    Perhaps because we puny humans don't understand this stuff nearly as well as we sometimes claim...

    Alien 'cos, well... THEY do.

  4. xjy
    Paris Hilton

    Very illuminating...

    ... or penetrating article, as the case may be.

    A star is unborn.

    I'm just glad we're so many billions of light years away from the thing. Wouldn't like a close encounter with that if it had a 6 month ET, eh?

    And what would the Aliens Office do with an immigrant that impertinant and assertive?

    (Paris, cos on the other hand I might just like a close encounter with her thing...)

  5. Mike
    Stop

    Re: a bit of scientific arrogance?

    >>Perhaps because we puny humans don't understand this stuff nearly as well as we sometimes claim...

    Spot on, when will the bloody scientists stop looking at things and trying to find answers? If they can't get it right first time they shouldn't bother, why can't they just grow up and and realise that God did it, you don't need to ask "why?how?when?which? etc." when we already have all the answers in the Bible, this is just more absolute proof that the earth is 6000 years old, homosexuality is a sin and evoluton is a lie.

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