PSR J2007 + 2722

Schematic representation of a pulsar. The ball in the middle represents a neutron star, the curves the magnetic field lines and the laterally protruding light cones the direction of the outgoing radiation.

PSR J2007 + 2722 is the name of a pulsar that is located in the constellation Fox and is about 17,000 light years from Earth. It was discovered by Einstein @ home , a project for distributed computing on home computers by volunteers, and was the first pulsar discovered in this way. He is a loner, which is relatively unusual for pulsars of similar rotation frequency and frequency change.

discovery

PSR J2007 + 2722 was discovered on July 11, 2010 by analyzing data from the Arecibo Observatory obtained in February 2007 . The discovery was confirmed by subsequent observations with various radio telescopes. The pulsar could be identified with a source in the archive data of the VLA at position α = 20 ^h  7 ^m , δ = + 27 ° 23 ′ (J2000).

properties

The pulsar resides within the Milky Way System , but is not within a supernova remnant or globular cluster. The dispersion measure suggests a distance of about 17,000  light years (≈ 5.3  kpc or 160  Em ). PSR J2007 + 2722 rotates around its own axis around 41 times per second (barycentric rotation frequency 40.82 Hz, or rotation duration 24.50 ms, for MJD 55399.0).

Web links

• Einstein @ Home 'citizen scientists' discover a new pulsar in Arecibo telescope data (English) - message from Einstein @ home dated August 12, 2010;

swell

• Knispel et al .: "Pulsar Discovery by Global Volunteer Computing" ; arXiv preprint from August 12, 2010