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Article: Clarksburg student finds rare type of neutron star in Green Bank data
- Article from:
- Charleston Gazette
- Article date:
- September 24, 2009
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2009 Charleston Gazette. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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A Clarksburg high school sophomore analyzing data from the
National Radio Astronomy Observatory's Robert C. Byrd Green Bank
Telescope has discovered a strange type of neutron star called a
rotating radio transient - one of only about 30 known to science.
Lucas Bolyard, a student at South Harrison High School, made the
discovery while taking part in the Pulsar Search Collaboratory, a
project in which West Virginia high school students are trained to
scrutinize data from the giant radio telescope.
In March, after studying more than 2,000 data plots from the
Green Bank telescope and finding nothing, Bolyard decided to spend
some of his free time looking for anomalies.
"I was home on a weekend ...