Radio telescope observations of relativistic phenomena in binary pulsar systems yield straightforward and robust determinations of the masses of pulsars and their companion stars.
Relativistic precession has been observed for all planets that allow for accurate precession measurements (Mercury, Venus, and Earth), as well as in binary pulsar systems, where it is larger by five orders of magnitude.
This is not the case for a close binary pulsar, a system of two orbiting neutron stars, one of which is a pulsar: from the pulsar, observers on Earth receive a regular series of radio pulses that can serve as a highly accurate clock, which allows precise measurements of the orbital period.
American astronomers Russell Hulse and Joseph H. Taylor, Jr., used Arecibo to discover the first binary pulsar.
With its enormous interacting gravitational fields, the binary pulsar should emit such waves, and the resulting energy drain should reduce the orbital distance between the two stars.
The 1993 Nobel Prize for Physics commemorated the 1974 discovery of the binary pulsar by two astrophysicists of the University of Massachusetts, Joseph H. Taylor, Jr., and Russell A. Hulse.
In 1974, using the Arecibo Observatory, American astronomers Joseph Taylor and Russell Hulse observed a binary pulsar (two pulsars in orbit around each other) and found that their orbital period was decreasing because of gravitational radiation at exactly the rate predicted by Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity.
November 28, 1950 New York City, New York Russell Alan Hulse, (born November 28 , 1950 New York, New York, U.S ., American physicist who in 1993 shared the Nobel Prize for Physics with his former teacher, the astrophysicist Joseph H. Taylor, Jr., for their joint discovery of the first binary pulsar.
March 24 , 1941Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Joseph H. Taylor, Jr., in full Joseph Hooton Taylor, Jr. (born March 24 , 1941 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.), American radio astronomer and physicist who, with Russell A. Hulse, was the corecipient of the 1993 Nobel Prize for Physics for their joint discovery of the first binary pulsar.
Observations during the 1919 solar eclipse provided dramatic confirmation of Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity, which gained further support with the discovery and tracking of the binary pulsar designated PSR 1913+16.
Two physicists got a Nobel Prize in 1993 for studies of a binary pulsar which behaved in a way that could best be explained by Einstein's prediction: gravity waves would drain away the orbital energy of the two massive bodies and these would then spiral ever closer.
