1004X EX-VIEW LONG EXPOSURE ASTRO CAMERA

DETECTION OF OPTICAL PULSES FROM THE CRAB NEBULA PULSAR

MARCH 2003

The mag 16 pulsar at the heart of the Supernova remnant M1 (Crab Nebula)  produces pulses 30 times a second over a wide range of wavelengths including optical. These have been detected using a strobe technique. The image below shows the location of the Pulsar and that of two non pulsing stars for comparison.

The images below were taken at times in the cycle when the Pulsar is 'on ' and 'off '. Each image is an average of 50x 10sec exposures.