Pulsar clocks spin closer to reality
By Sean Hollister 
posted July 11th 2010 9:08AM
posted July 11th 2010 9:08AM
Contrary to popular legend, Pulsar wristwatches don't use the light of dying stars to keep time. However, if researchers at the University of Manchester are correct, the strobe-like effect generated by a collapsed star's spin may indeed be the most accurate clock (sorry, atoms) available to mankind. While pulsars have long been studied for insight into the nature of time and gravity, their patterns weren't as regular as scientists would like, but the U of M team believe that's because the stars are actually swapping between two different states, each with their own rotation speed. By correcting for the difference when the hunk of burning gas puts on the brakes, they can make measurements far more precise -- meaning a greater understanding of the fabric of space-time for the brainiacs, and if we're lucky, reliable pulsar clocks within our lifetime.
You know, I'm absolutely fine if my clock is a few seconds away from the "real" time. Not that big a deal for me
@centizen YES!
It's not for you. It's for scientific time keeping.
@centizen
I thought time is relative, when will we start using star-dates
@centizen
Yes... but when you want to send ships light years away, you want to be as accurate as you can be.
@centizen
It it's not 100% accurate, you blew it.
Not that big of a deal.
@aubreyq
I have a swatch and it's 100% accurate everytime I check the time servers and set it.
@SmoothMarx
Wait a thousand years and it will probably be off by at least a little.
@centizen Scientists are freaking out over a difference of 0.00000000000003 millimeters in proton size.
Granted I do understand why this is a big deal and it is not really a freakout but it is a problem for some of our fundamental notions about quantum level interactions.
http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100707/full/news.2010.337.html
What is "real time" ?? It's not like the Universe is carrying around a datebook.
@TurboTalon
If 'time' doesn't exist, then I got ripped off on my Rolex...
@centizen
ok this is for the good of science but as for clock use, its crap
i'm not going to live long enough for an atomic clock to be off by a second
so until they can make me live long enough to see a sea turtle be born and die this means nothing to me
I can get by with Quartz crystal timings myself...
great , now I won't be late for my lectures
how can a dying star millions of light years away dictate what the true time on our planet that rotates around Sol is? Isn't the time in each solar system dictated by the star its planets surround
No.
@DefPoet No. Years are dictated by that (well, the orbit periods).
@DefPoet
Funny thing is, time really doesn't exist.
Humans devised time to bring order to nature and our lives. It helps explain physics and the laws of nature we created. We *think* the pulsar (or atom) best explains our version of space time and how it fits in our equations....
@seeloesix
time is relative to who is perceiving it
@d0mth0ma5
and what defines a year or day or second or decade? time is relative to the person experiencing it
@DefPoet the scientific community defines it, and now they have found an even better way to define it. that's all.
this is not about "time", it's about "time meassurement" and that's something different. it's a man made definition ...
@poet
conscience is man made so do we even exist at all or is the world as we know some weird intergalactic being's day dream
@DefPoet more like "man is conscience made" and "extra-galactic being"
@seeloesix
Time doesn't really exist? What? Yes, our understanding of time is limited by our human cognition, but the continual passing and occurrence of events is as much of a fundamental universal concept as the existence of space. We invented a system to measure time, but we certainly did not invent time itself. And "the laws of nature that we created"? What does that mean? Are you saying we invented gravity too?
@DefPoet Any way you look at it a year is one orbit around the sun. Regardless of what you think about time.
As long as the actual time is to my advantage when it's time to leave work.
How accurate are our atom clocks? Aren't they working on 16 digits to the right of the decimal point already? Would this take us farther to the right or correct our current digits?
Can't wait to get a Pulsar Binary Clock.
So which pulsar do we decide is the most accurate?
What's the point in using a clock that's more accurate that the world I'm living in? Will WORLD clocks change the time according to MINE?
@popcornic
Its more for science-ey stuff.
whats a watch?
The only clock more accurate than a Pulsar clock is a Chuck Norris clock....... because, as we all know, IT decides what time it is.
@buoy There is no Chuck Norris clock ... Chuck simply decides what time it is on his own, duh!
haven't they developed a time machine yet?
Does the Pulsar clock beat the quantum clock? http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/02/quantum-logic-atomic-clock/
Just one question...which clock are they going to use to tell them when to "correct for the difference"?
@garymc
Every time it seems to be running a little slow they send an astronaut to wind it up again, duh.
Only gadget involved was a picture of a watch that is not even relevant! I feel ripped off, I want my money back.
Time is only the measurement of the decay of the universe and its inhabitants.
@kracklejack
Time's running fast these days...
Accurate time is necessary for example in the GPS system, all satellites needs to run on a perfectly synchronized clock for this to work, and the more accurate the more accurate the location you track will be. So, there are practical uses for super accurate time.
Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so.
Remember what that wizard told Link; "There is no time!"
Regardless of the article what is the picture of? That's really ugly watch :) Is it from 1980s?