Iqueye's First Light: Observing the Crab Pulsar

A new astronomical instrument called IQUEYE (Italian Quantum Eye) has achieved its first light at the Gemini South Observatory in Chile. Developed by Chilean and Italian scientists, IQUEYE is designed to observe astronomical objects that vary rapidly in time, such as pulsars and blazars. The instrument can detect single photons and tag each with its arrival time.

This enables precise time measurements with an accuracy of up to 0.5 nanoseconds. IQUEYE's first target was the Crab Pulsar, a rapidly rotating neutron star about 6,500 light-years away. The Crab Pulsar has never been observed with such high temporal resolution and sensitivity in the visible spectrum.

Scientists aim to use IQUEYE to study fast radio bursts (FRBs), millisecond-long pulses of energy from distant galaxies. This research could potentially reveal their origins and provide new insights into cosmology.