| Proposal ID | 020159 |
| Title | THE ENIGMATIC SOURCE RX J1856.5-3754: IS IT A MILLISECOND PULSAR? |
| Download Data Associated to the proposal | https://nxsa.esac.esa.int/nxsa-sl/servlet/data-action-aio?obsno=0201590101 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.5270/esa-fqe230w |
| Principal Investigator, PI | Dr VYACHESLAV ZAVLIN |
| Abstract | The nature of RX J1856.5-3754, the famous nearby radio-silent compact object,remains unknown because its rotational period has not been detected. However,the numerous X-ray observations of this puzzling source have been sensitive toperiods only above 20 ms. We argue that the observed X-ray and optical radiationof this source can be interpreted as thermal emission from peripheries of hotpolar caps of a millisecond pulsar, whose nonthermal emission in radio andX-rays is not observable because of an unfavorable orientation of the radiationbeams. To verify this hypothesis, we propose to observe this target with theEPIC-pn instrument operating in timing mode. The proposed observation will besensitive to millisecond pulsations with a pulsed fraction as low as 3%. |
| Publications |
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| Instrument | EMOS1, EMOS2, EPN, OM, RGS1, RGS2 |
| Temporal Coverage | 2004-04-17T21:55:45Z/2004-04-18T16:23:15Z |
| Version | 21.51_20241115_1113 |
| Mission Description | The European Space Agencys (ESA) X-ray Multi-Mirror Mission (XMM-Newton) was launched by an Ariane 504 on December 10th 1999. XMM-Newton is ESAs second cornerstone of the Horizon 2000 Science Programme. It carries 3 high throughput X-ray telescopes with an unprecedented effective area, and an optical monitor, the first flown on a X-ray observatory. The large collecting area and ability to make long uninterrupted exposures provide highly sensitive observations. Since Earths atmosphere blocks out all X-rays, only a telescope in space can detect and study celestial X-ray sources. The XMM-Newton mission is helping scientists to solve a number of cosmic mysteries, ranging from the enigmatic black holes to the origins of the Universe itself. Observing time on XMM-Newton is being made available to the scientific community, applying for observational periods on a competitive basis. |
| Creator Contact | https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/xmm-newton/xmm-newton-helpdesk |
| Date Published | 2005-06-09T00:00:00Z |
| Last Update | 2026-07-09 |
| Keywords | "numerous xray", "J1856.5", "millisecond pulsations", "pulsed fraction", "millisecond pulsar ?.", "millisecond pulsar", "hot polar caps", "unfavorable orientation", "nonthermal emission", "thermal emission", "EPIC", "rx j1856", "radiation beams", "optical radiation", "rotational period" |
| Publisher And Registrant | European Space Agency |
| Credit Guidelines | European Space Agency, Dr VYACHESLAV ZAVLIN, 2005, 'THE ENIGMATIC SOURCE RX J1856.5-3754: IS IT A MILLISECOND PULSAR?', 21.51_20241115_1113, European Space Agency, https://doi.org/10.5270/esa-fqe230w |
| Rights | Data hosted in the ESA Space Science Archives are distributed under the CC BY-NC 3.0 IGO license. |