Astrophysicists at the University of Texas at Brownsville have been studying Pulsar PSR B1937+21 about 10,000 light years away to determine why the radio waves emitted from the pulsar seem to have been traveling faster than the speed of light, according to a new study set to be published in the Astrophysical Journal and reported upon in PhysicsWorld.com.Pulsar PSR B1937+21 is the second fastest spinning pulsar yet cataloged, and spins about 642 times around every second. The radio pulse from the pulsar is suspected to have picked up some of the excess speed by passing through a cloud of neutral hydrogen atoms, which causes the radio waves to increase their electromagnetic wavelength (a process called "anomalous dispersion"), reports Physics.org. [Hat tip to Jacob Atkins.]
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