Home computer finds rare pulsar : Nature News

A rare isolated pulsar with a very low magnetic field has been discovered by a volunteer-computing initiative, researchers report today in the journal Science¹.

Data gathered by the world's largest radio dish in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, is later sifted for puslars by the Einstein@Home project.Louie Psihoyos/Science Faction/Corbis

When Bruce Allen, director of the Einstein@Home distributed-computing project, first contacted Chris and Helen Colvin from Ames, Iowa, to tell them that their home computer had made a significant discovery while running the project's software as a screensaver, they did not believe he was serious. The Colvins are among 262,000 volunteers in 192 countries who have loaded and run the Einstein@Home software on their computers.

more: nature.com

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