PULSARS - SETTING THE STANDARD

Over 600 pulsars are now known, almost all of which lie in our Galaxy. Most pulsars have periods between 0.1 and a few seconds, but a very important sub-class, the 'millisecond' pulsars, have much shorter periods. Millisecond pulsars axe often in a binary orbit with another star, suggesting that their short periods are a result of accreting mass from the companion star. They are also extraordinarily good clocks, with a stability comparable to that of the best atomic clocks. This combination of extreme period stability and binary motion has led to some very important results, including the first observational evidence for gravitational radiation and the first evidence for extra-solar planetary systems. It is probable that pulsars will be used to define the long-term standard of terrestrial time. A search of the southern sky using the Parkes radio telescope has found several millisecond pulsars which will make an important contribution to these precision-timing programs.