Galactic GPS
We’re all familiar with GPS. It consist on a network of satellites that broadcast a time signal. A receiver on Earth can then work out its position in three-dimensional space by comparing the arrival times of the signals from at least three satellites. That’s handy, but only works on Earth. Now astronomers at the Politecnico di Torino in Italy have figured out how to use millisecond signals from a network of pulsars to allow GPS-style navigation on a galactic scale. (more…)
