PSR J0901–4046 is an ultra-long period

pulsar A pulsar (from ''pulsating radio source'') is a highly magnetized rotating neutron star that emits beams of electromagnetic radiation out of its magnetic poles. This radiation can be observed only when a beam of emission is pointing toward Ea ...

. Its period, 75.9 seconds, is the longest for any known neutron star pulsar (some objects believed to be white dwarf pulsars, such as

AR Scorpii AR Scorpii (AR Sco) is a binary pulsar that consists of a white dwarf and a red dwarf. It is located close to the ecliptic plane in the constellation Scorpius. Parallax measurements made by ''Gaia'' put the system at a distance of abou ...

, have longer periods). Its period is more than three times longer than that of PSR J0250+5854, the previous long period record-holder. The pulses are narrow; radio emission is seen from PSR J0901–4046 for only 0.5% of its rotation period. PSR J0901–4046 was discovered serendipitously on September 27, 2020, by the MeerTRAP team, when a single pulse from it was noticed during

MeerKAT MeerKAT, originally the Karoo Array Telescope, is a radio telescope consisting of 64 antennas in the Meerkat National Park, in the Northern Cape of South Africa. In 2003, South Africa submitted an expression of interest to host the Square Kilom ...

observations of

Vela X-1 Vela or Velas may refer to: Astronomy * Vela (constellation), a constellation in the southern sky (the Sails) ** Vela (Chinese astronomy) ** Vela Pulsar ** Vela X-1, a pulsing, eclipsing high-mass X-ray binary system Places * Vela Bluff, Antar ...

(which is less than 1/4 degree away from PSR J0901–4046 on the sky). After that pulse was detected, further examination of the data revealed that 14 weaker pulses were present in the ~30 minute long data set, but they had been missed by the real-time detection software. The deepest image of the MeerKAT field showed a diffuse shell-like structure that may be a

supernova remnant A supernova remnant (SNR) is the structure resulting from the explosion of a star in a supernova. The supernova remnant is bounded by an expanding shock wave, and consists of ejected material expanding from the explosion, and the interstellar mat ...

associated with the birth of the neutron star. PSR J0901–4046's period, combined with its period time derivative of 2.25×10⁻¹³ second/second, implies a characteristic age of 5.3 million years. The discovery of PSR J0901–4046 challenges the understanding of how neutron stars evolve.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:PSR J0901-4046 Vela (constellation) Astronomical objects discovered in 2020 Pulsars

See also

References