First view of a newborn millisecond pulsar?

This composite shows an artist's impression (center) of a millisecond pulsar and its companion with an insert of the ESA/NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image of the region (upper left). The millisecond pulsar system lies in the globular cluster NGC 6397 in Ara (the Altar). In the Hubble image insert the companion star is marked with an arrow. The artist's impression shows the pulsar (seen in blue with two radiation beams) and its bloated red companion star. Scientists believe that the best explanation for seeing a bloated red star instead of a 'quiet' white dwarf in the system is that the pulsar only recently has been spun up to its current rotation speed of 274 times per second by the gases transferred by the red star. It is the first time such a system has been observed.

Credit:

European Space Agency & Francesco Ferraro (Bologna Astronomical Observatory)

About the Image

Id:heic0201a
Type:Collage
Release date:13 February 2002, 15:00
Related releases:heic0201
Size:2873 x 1935 px

About the Object

Name:NGC 6397, PSR J1740-5340
Type:Milky Way : Star : Evolutionary Stage : Neutron Star : Pulsar
Milky Way : Star : Grouping : Cluster : Globular
Milky Way : Star : Grouping : Binary
Distance:7000 light years
Category:Star Clusters
Stars

Image Formats

r.titleLarge JPEG
1.1 MB
r.titleScreensize JPEG
232.5 KB

Print Layout

r.titleScreensize JPEG
211.8 KB

Colours & filters

BandWavelengthTelescope
Ultraviolet
U
345 nm Hubble Space Telescope
WFC2
Optical
B
418 nm Hubble Space Telescope
WFPC2
Optical
V
515 nm Hubble Space Telescope
WFPC2
Optical
H-alpha
656 nm Hubble Space Telescope
WFPC2
Optical
R
678 nm Hubble Space Telescope
WFPC2
Infrared
I
839 nm Hubble Space Telescope
WFPC1

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