The Discovery of Gamma Ray Emission from PSR B1259-63/LS 2883: a Modern Version of David vs. Goliath
Prof. Kong explains the binary star phenomenon at the press conference
Dr. P. H. T. Tam, the first to discover emission phenomenon joined the press conference from the campus of Univ. of Hong Kong.
Prof. Kong and Prof. Shang-Jr Gwo, Dean of Research and Development with other team members of the research team.
Prof. Kong answering more questions, from the reporters, after the conference.
Prof. Albert Kwok-Hing Kong, Institute of Astronomy and his Compact Objects Research Group have recently outshined NASA's one hundred seventy three person research team and became the first group of astronomers to first observed and captured the "gamma-ray transient phenomena" in the Southern Cross binary star system.
President Lih J. Chen described, at a National Science Council press conference, that the discovery made by Prof. Kong and his research team as an "example of how a small shrimp can sometimes outdo a gigantic whales; or, as a modern version of David defeating Goliath."
A member of the Compact Objects Research Group, Dr. P.H.T. Tam was the first astronomer found the "gamma-ray transient phenomenon" in the Southern Cross binary star system. Since that discovery, Dr. Tam had analyzed the data collected from "Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope" on a regular basis. Prof. Kong said that "when we first announced this discovery to other astronomers around the world last November, it was questioned by some of our colleagues due to the fact that the signal was rather weak." The Research Group observed the gamma rays again in mid-January this year and they found that the strength was several times greater than what they had observed last time. Prof. Kong said that this is an unprecedented discovery and now there is no generally accepted explanation on this phenomenon.
Prof. Kong further pointed out that the space binary star systems are generally composed of two fixed stars, and their size is rather small. But one of this binary star in the Southern Cross is a fixed star with a mass twenty-four times larger than the sum and the other one is a pulsar with a size about that of the Hsinchu City. Astronomers around the world are interested in this special pair of stars and the astronomical community has named the pulsar "PSR B1259-63" and predicted that the phenomenon observed occurs once every three years. Prof. Kong also disclosed that the NASA research team, which is made up by 173 scientists internationally, had also discovery the ray but their discovery was made after Prof. Kong's Research Group and the NASA team was somewhat disappointed.
