Physical Society Colloquium

NICER Pulsars - Astrophysics and Exploration from the International Space Station

Zaven Arzoumanian

Goddard Space Flight Center
NASA

Pulsars are the lighthouses of the cosmos: city-sized stars that sweep beams of radiation through space as they spin, sometimes as fast as blender blades. They are the strongest magnets known, their gravity is immense, and they are made of the densest stuff in the universe. In short, these stars are extraordinary in every way. Launched in June 2017, NASA's dual-purpose Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) mission aims to answer longstanding questions about the physics and astrophysics of neutron stars by placing a telescope on the International Space Station (ISS) designed to precisely time their pulsations and investigate the X-ray emissions of pulsars. The mission's second purpose is a first-ever demonstration of autonomous spacecraft navigation using pulsars as beacons in a "Galactic Positioning System." This talk describes NICER, the Station Explorer for X-ray Timing and Navigation Technology (SEXTANT) project, and what we are learning about the structure, dynamics, and energetics of neutron stars.