The Large Area Telescope on Fermi has opened up a new era in pulsar astronomy,detecting more than 120 gamma-ray pulsars, virgul30% of which are radio quiet. One ofthe most interesting pulsars discovered by the LAT is J2055+2539, radio-quiet,with largest characteristic age (1.2E6 years) and one of the smallest spindownluminosities (Erot virgul5E33 erg/s). Its large gamma-ray flux implies a very smalldistance, consistent with its location off the plane. A previous short XMMobservation identified the X-ray counterpart and revealed an unusually large andnarrow (11.x1.) extended feature, protruding from the pulsar. We propose a deepXMM observation to better characterize the spectrum of the pulsar, search forX-ray pulsations, and further investigate the nature of the extended feature.
Instrument
EMOS1, EMOS2, EPN, OM, RGS1, RGS2
Temporal Coverage
2013-05-15T03:00:49Z/2013-05-16T16:51:26Z
Version
17.56_20190403_1200
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.
European Space Agency, Dr Martino Marelli, 2014, 'The old radio-quiet pulsar PSR J2055+2539 and its long comma bright X-ray trail', 17.56_20190403_1200, European Space Agency, https://doi.org/10.5270/esa-k5446cs
