[time-nuts] Pulsars make a GPS for the cosmos

[Andre van Staden]

Hi Hal

> The setup is a spinning disk with holes in it. 
> Adjust the speed of rotation until it beats with the pulsar.
> I think you need a small telescope for the bright pulsars.

Yes, you are quite right. I recently done this with an 8" amateur telescope
and it is possible to reconstruct the optical profile of a pulsar however it
not a trivial exercise and need correction for a number of timing issues.
You need to average thousands of pulses for a decent S/N while maintaining
synchronization with the rotation of the pulsar. The only optical bright
pulsar is the Crab pulsar at magnitude 16.5 and spin at around 30Hz. (yes,
and I assume you need to be some sort of timing freak to do this :-) If you
are interest you can access my publication in June 2013 issue p91 of MNASSA
at http://www.mnassa.org.za/

Best Regards
Andre