For now, though, the project's still in the baby steps phase -- only 12 feet of the detector (the currently operational portion) has been successfully built out -- so the reality-shattering, scientific epiphanies will have to wait.

ENGADGET

"If the sudden frequency change is neglected, then after only eight hours, a complete rotation of the pulsar is lost in our counting, and we can no longer determine at which rotational phase the gamma-ray photons reach the detector aboard Fermi, " Pletsch explained.

MSN: Oddball pulsating star hiccups as it spins