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| A PLANET ORBITING THE NEUTRON-STAR PSR1829-10 |
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| Author(s): BAILES M, LYNE AG, SHEMAR SL |
| Source: NATURE Volume: 352 Issue: 6333 Pages: 311-313 Published: JUL 25 1991 |
| Times Cited: 53 References: 22 |
| Abstract: CONVENTIONAL optical techniques for detecting companions to stars have been unable to confirm the existence of other planetary systems. This is because of the small angular separation (less than an arcsecond) and relative luminosity (approximately 10(-10)) of any planet with respect to its parent star. As the velocity of the star due to the motion of a planet is likely to be only about one metre per second, detection through the Doppler shift of spectral lines in the stellar atmosphere is also impractical. Here we report observations which imply the existence of a planet-sized companion orbiting a neutron star, the pulsar PSR1829-10, whose motion can be seen by Doppler effects on the observed arrival times of the pulses from the rotating neutron star. The planet is about 10 times the mass of the Earth, and is in an almost circular six-month orbit. It is not clear whether it formed in the aftermath of the supernova that created the neutron star, or was pre-existing and somehow survived through the late phases of stellar evolution and neutron-star formation. In either case, the existence of the planet challenges conventional theories of the formation of neutron stars from supernovae and has important implications for the existence of planetary systems around other stars. |
| Document Type: Article |
| Language: English |
| Reprint Address: BAILES, M (reprint author), UNIV MANCHESTER, NUFFIELD RADIO ASTRON LABS, JODRELL BANK, MACCLESFIELD SK11 9DL, CHESHIRE ENGLAND |
| Publisher: MACMILLAN MAGAZINES LTD, 4 LITTLE ESSEX STREET, LONDON, ENGLAND WC2R 3LF |
| Subject Category: Multidisciplinary Sciences |
| IDS Number: FY289 |
| ISSN: 0028-0836 |
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