Monthly Archives: July 2010

In 1967 at the Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory, University of Cambridge, a high frequency radio telescope was created to survey ‘twinkling’ radio signals from the energy sources at the far limits of known space. Research student Jocelyn Bell was assigned the task of analysing the data flows. Months and miles of readouts later she spotted a distinctive pulse that had a regularity never seen before in space. It was assumed to be a source from Earth, a clock or astronomical device, and was treated as ‘noise’ within the data. She labeled the signal ‘scruff’, denoting meaningless interference. After the pulse was recorded more consistently the precise regularity was such that it was speculated to be of extraterrestrial origin. The readout was then labeled ‘LGM-1’; Little Green Men 1, and the noise they made on the data began to take primary concern. What she had in fact discovered was the radio emission of a Pulsating Star, shorthanded to ‘Pulsar’. After many other celestial signals of a similar ‘beat’ were discovered, it was concluded that the stars were ‘spinning’ on an axis, having been knocked off their orbit by their own implosion, or nova. The ‘lighthouse’ affect caused by the rotation is the pulsing radio signal received by radio telescopes on Earth. Years after their initial discovery, pulsars were noted to decrease in speed of rotation, indicating a measure of time between the death of the star and the transmission made throughout its afterlife

Scruff Poetry.
Is not Sound Poetry.
Is sometimes little green men.
Is sometimes just meaningless interference (scratches or fluffs)
Always has a pulse.