‘Optical Pulsars’

Abstract

The three astronomers stared intently at the screen with the ambivalence of high anticipation and low expectations. Two of them were theoretical astronomers on their first real experience in an astronomical observatory. After enduring good-natured joking from more experienced observers that such novices had been allowed near a telescope, the pair had managed to book time on a rather small, almost antique telescope that was well past its initial prime. Along the way, they had rallied the support of an experienced observational astronomer who had set up much of the equipment for them. Although primarily there to gain observing experience, the theoretical astronomers had chosen as their prey one of the hottest topics in astronomy at the time: the elusive optical pulsar. More experienced observers had tried and failed to detect optical pulsars and so they searched without much hope for telltale flashes of light that kept time with the recently discovered Crab pulsar that would indicate that pulsars emitted visible light pulses as well as radio pulses. Such a discovery would be quite a prize considering its implications for understanding pulsars. In this case the sign of success would be a distinctively curved line of green dots running across the center of the monitor. That cold winter evening in 1969 the astronomers stared at the screen in darkness and anticipation.