According to foreign media reports, astronomers from the University of Toronto's Dunlop Astronomy and Astrophysics Institute realized one of the highest resolutions in astronomical history by observing two intense radiation areas 20 kilometers around the Earth's 6500-year-old star. This observation is equivalent to using a telescope on Earth to observe a flea on the surface of Pluto.
Astronomers used the 135-meter-diameter William E. Gordon Arecibo radio telescope at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico to study the pulsar called the Black Widow. The team drew a subtle change in the observed brightness of the laser pointer pulsar on a time scale and found that the pulsar appeared to be brighter at some point in its orbit, especially at the edge of the plasma cloud. Astronomers assume that the edge of the plasma cloud acts as a lens that increases the observed brightness of the pulsar in a short period of time.
In a plasma lens, radio waves are bent, and radio waves reaching the observer from different angles overlap to produce a bright spot (referred to as a caustic surface). Similar light effects can be seen from the bottom of the pool on sunny days.
Astronomer Robert Main said: "The gas is like a magnifying glass in front of the pulsar. We basically observe the pulsar through a naturally generated magnifying glass. This magnifying glass periodically lets us see these two different areas."
Main and his colleagues also showed that by studying how this laser pointer effect changes over time and the observed radio frequency, the plasma lens effect can be used to amplify the pulsar. This observation can also provide clues to what is known as Fast Radio Burst (FRB).