Black Widow Pulsar
In 1999 astronomers discovered a strange source of gamma radiation in the Milky Way. Now, they confirmed the existence of a neutron star in this truly extreme pulsar.
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Back in 1999, astronomers discovered a strange source of gamma radiation known as 4FGLJ1653.6-0158 which defied all our previous experience. And since 2009 we had a suspicion it was a neutron star. Then, observations in 2014 which were performed in the optical and x-ray part of the electromagnetic spectrum showed it is a very close binary star. But even then we weren’t sure whether one of them was a neutron star or not.
Now, finally, the presence of a neutron star in this incredible source of gamma radiation was proven by Colin Clark and his colleagues from the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics at the University of Manchester. It is a pulsar and its official name is PSR J1653-0158. And not only did they confirm the existence of the neutron star but also found that the binary star is truly extreme.
But, why did it take the scientists so long to prove a neutron star is there? To discover a neutron star or more precisely a pulsar we need not only to detect radio or gamma radiation which these objects usually send out but also the pulses characteristic for them as pulsars rotate – often at insane speeds – and look like distant lighthouses of the Universe. But the problem with 4FGLJ165.6-0158 is that it is completely invisible in the radio part of the spectrum.
Einstein@Home’s Help
The project Einstein@Home had a major role in cracking this mystery. Participants of this project offered the computational power of roughly 10.000 graphics cards in their computers for calculations allowing the astronomers to track down the regular pulses of gamma radiation of this source in a large set of data that came from the gamma telescope Fermi.
The results show that the pulsar is very unique. This pulsar rotates at a speed of roughly 30.000 rotations per minute making it one of the fastest pulsars ever. At the same time, its magnetic field is weak. This is shocking as pulsars almost always have powerful magnetic fields.
One of the major discoveries is that it is a Black Widow Pulsar. A monster with a diameter of roughly 20 kilometers yet a mass of roughly 2 Suns. Around it, once per 75 minutes at a speed of 700 kilometers per second something orbits. It has a mass of just 1 percent of our Sun yet the density that is the sixties the density of lead.
Most likely, this something are the remains of a star. The pulsar steals mass from its companion while devastating it with its brutal radiation. That’s why the pulsar is a Black Widow Pulsar.
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