PSR B0943+10
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Observation data Epoch J2000.0 Equinox J2000.0 |
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Constellation | Leo |
Right ascension | 19h46m7.4s[1] |
Declination | +09° 51' 54" [1] |
Apparent magnitude (V) | ? |
Astrometry | |
Distance | 0.63 ± 0.10 k[1] pc |
Characteristics | |
Spectral type | neutron star |
U−B color index | ? |
B−V color index | ? |
Variable type | Pulsar |
Details | |
Mass | ~ 0.02[2] M☉ |
Radius | ~ 2.6km[2] R☉ |
Luminosity | 1.31×10-5[1] L☉ |
Temperature | 3.1x105[1] K |
Metallicity | ? |
Rotation | 1.1 s |
Age | 5 × 106 years |
Other designations | |
PSR B0943+10 is a pulsar 3,000 light years from Earth[3] in the direction of the constellation of Leo.[4]
Description
The pulsar is estimated to be 5 million years old, which is relatively old for a pulsar.[5] It has a rotational period of 1.1 seconds and emits both radio waves and X-rays.[3] Ongoing research at the University of Vermont discovered that the pulsar was found to flip on a roughly a few hours timescale between a radio bright mode with highly organized pulsations and a quieter mode with rather chaotic temporal structure.[6][7]
Moreover, the observations of the pulsar performed simultaneously with the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton X-ray observatory and ground-based radio telescopes revealed that it exhibits variations in its X-ray emission that mimic in reverse the changes seen in radio waves—the pulsar has a weaker non-pulsing X-ray luminosity during the radio bright mode and is actually brighter during the radio quite mode emitting distinct X-ray pulses.[7] Such changes can only be explained if the pulsar's magnetosphere (which may extend up to 52,000 km from the surface) quickly switches between two extreme states.[5] The change happens on a few seconds timescale, far faster than most pulsars. Despite being one of the first pulsars discovered the mechanism for its unusual behavior is unknown.[6]
A research group from Peking University in Beijing, China published a paper suggesting that the pulsar may actually be a low-mass quark star.[2]
References
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