Space may not be the final frontier just yet since we still have quite a few mysteries here on Earth, but it does have its own share of unexplained phenomena. One of these mysteries is the neutron star; the remains of a collapsed star. NASA is currently observing what may be a neutron star evolving before their very eyes. Details in the full article.

If Einstein were alive today, he'd be saying "I told you so."

An international research team led by Prof. Michael Kramer of the University of Manchester's Jodrell Bank Observatory, UK, has proof that Einstein's theory of general relativity (you know the famous theory that everyone knows by name but barely a handful of people truly understand) is at least 99.95% correct.

How they proved it took three years of observing a "double pulsar", a unique pair of natural stellar clocks which they discovered in 2003.

The double pulsar system, PSR J0737-3039A and B, consists of two massive, highly compact neutron stars orbiting each other every 2.4 hours at speeds of a million kilometres per hour. A million kilometres apart, both neutron stars emit lighthouse-like beams of radio waves that are seen as radio "pulses" every time the beams sweep past the Earth.

It is the only known system of two detectable radio pulsars orbiting each other and they provide a way to test Einstein's Theory of General Relativity.

The Shapiro Delay. Einstein said signals passing near a massive object takes slightly longer to travel to a target and longer to return (as measured by the observer) than it would if the mass of the object were not present. This was confirmed by pulses from one pulsar that was delayed by the curvature of space-time when passing close to the other.

Gravitational Radiation and Orbital Decay. Gravitational radiation results when gravitational waves are emitted from some moving object or system of objects. A gravitational wave is a fluctuation in the curvature of space-time which propagates as a wave. The researchers discovered the co-rotating neutron stars lose energy due to the radiation of gravitational waves. This results in a gradual spiralling in of the two stars towards each other until they collide and form one body as suggested by Einstein.

Gravitational Redshift. Light loses energy when it moves away from a massive body such as a star or a black hole. This effect can be seen as a gravitational redshift in the frequency of the light. The scientists noted that the pulsar clock runs slower when it is deeper in the gravitational field of its massive companion, an effect known as "time dilation". The time dilation causes the pulse rate from one pulsar to slow when near to the other, and vice versa. Exactly what Einstein predicted!