It was asked if anyone heard Morning Ireland yesterday morning well:
Astronomers at Galway NUI have discovered and measured for the first time a link between the intensity of optical light and the intensity of radio waves from a pulsar. Led by Professor Andy Shearer the research team’s work is published in the latest edition of the journal Science, it has important implications for the understanding of how these enigmatic objects work.
The focus of the NUI Galway team was the “Crab” Pulsar in Taurus. The team took simultaneous observations of the Crab pulsar at both radio and optical wavelengths. They built a camera called TRIFFID and used global positioning satellite technology to record optical signals at the William Herschel Telescope at La Palma and the radio at the Dutch Radio observatory at Westbrook, Holland.
The observations of the NUI Galway research team have for the first time linked emissions from these two parts of the electromagnetic spectrum- and in doing so ruled out some of the competing models. The team hopes that future observations particularly of the polarization of the radio and optical radiation will lead to a complete understanding of how Pulsars work.
We at the Galway Astronomy Club Congratulate Andy and his team for their outstanding work and look forward to hearing him talk about this fascinating discovery at our Connaught Starparty in January.
  