By I.A.C.
29 October 2002

Professor Aleksander Wolszczan is a distinguished world specialist in the domain of research into pulsars—or neutron stars—and “pulsar timing".

One of the pulsars he discovered is a double system of two neutron stars and is the best-known cosmic probe of gravitation theory. Another pulsar discovered by Wolszczan proved to have at least two companions, their individual masses comparable to that of Earth. Wolszczan has measured with great accuracy changes in the rhythm of subsequent radiation impulses—pulsars emit a beam of radiation which reaches the Earth once during each rotation of the star, and consequently we record series of radio impulses. With the use of these measurements, Wolszczan has demonstrated that there are three planets orbiting the PSR 1257 pulsar. This was the first extra solar planetary system to be observed.

This was one of the greatest discoveries in astronomy in recent years and has raised enormous interest throughout the world. According to Prof. Bohdan Paczyński of Princeton University, “it is the biggest discovery made by a Polish astronomer since the times of Copernicus."

For a long time, astrophysicists have tried to understand how planetary systems are formed. The problem is a difficult one, as planets orbiting other stars are small, dark objects and are thus invisible. No one had managed to observe them until now. Wolszczan's discovery makes it possible to answer numerous questions about the formation of our solar system. We may hope that if a larger number of distant pulsars are examined, more planetary systems at various stages of formation will be discovered. The observation of the pulsars may enable scientists to determine the way our solar system looked at the beginnings of its existence.

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