![]() To understand what makes this system so special, imagine a star 500,000 times as heavy as Earth, yet only 20 kilometres across. In 2003, astronomers at the Parkes radio telescope in New South Wales discovered a double pulsar system 2,400 light years away that offers a perfect opportunity to study general relativity under extreme conditions. After 16 years of observations, we have found no cracks in Einstein’s theory. We studied a pair of stars called the Double Pulsar which provide just such a situation. To resolve this conflict, we need to see general relativity pushed to its limits: extremely intense gravitational forces at work on small scales. ![]() ![]() General relativity works extremely well at large scales in the Universe, but quantum mechanics rules the microscopic realm of atoms and fundamental particles. But it has a dark side too: a fundamental conflict with our other great physical theory, quantum mechanics. General relativity is not only very accurate, but ask any astrophysicist about the theory and they’ll probably also describe it as “beautiful”. ![]() Image credit: John Rowe Animations/CSIROįor more than 100 years, Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity has been our best description of how the force of gravity acts throughout the Universe. ![]() An artist’s impression of the Double Pulsar system in which the two pulsars orbit each other every 2.5 hours and send out high-energy beams that sweep across the sky. ![]()
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