CXOU J164710.2-455216

CXOU J164710.2-455216

Artist's impression of CXOU J164710.2-455216
Observation data
Epoch J2000.0      Equinox J2000.0 (ICRS)
Constellation Ara
Right ascension 16h 47m 10.20s
Declination −45° 52 16.8
Characteristics
Evolutionary stage Neutron star
Apparent magnitude (\begin{smallmatrix}K_s \end{smallmatrix}) >18.5[1]
Astrometry
Distanceapprox. 16000 ly
(approx. 5000 pc)
Details
Rotation10.6105(1)s
Other designations
CXOU J164710.20-455217, CXOU J164710.2-455217

CXOU J164710.2-455216 is an anomalous X-ray pulsar in the massive galactic open cluster Westerlund 1. It is the brightest X-ray source in the cluster, and was discovered in 2005 in observations made by the Chandra X-ray observatory.[1][2] The Westerlund 1 cluster is believed to have formed in a single burst of star formation,[3] implying that the progenitor star must have had a mass in excess of 40 solar masses. The fact that a neutron star was formed instead of a black hole implies that more than 95% of the star's original mass must have been lost before or during the supernova that produced the magnetar.[4][5]

On 21 September 2006 the Swift satellite detected a 20ms soft Gamma-ray burst in Westerlund 1. Fortuitously, XMM-Newton observations had been made four days earlier, and repeat observations 1.5 days after the burst revealed the magnetar to be the source of the burst, with the X-ray luminosity increasing by a factor of 100 during the outburst.[6]

References

  1. 1 2 A Neutron Star with a Massive Progenitor in Westerlund 1, Muno et al. (2006)
  2. Westerlund 1: Neutron Star Discovered Where a Black Hole Was Expected
  3. On the massive stellar population of the super star cluster Westerlund 1, Clark et al. (2005)
  4. Magnetar Formation Mystery Solved, eso1415 - Science Release (14 May 2014)
  5. Wood, Chris. "Very Large Telescope solves magnetar mystery" GizMag, 14 May 2014. Accessed: 18 May 2014.
  6. Exciting the magnetosphere of the magnetar CXOU J164710.2-455216 in Westerlund 1, Muno et al. (2007)

Coordinates: 16h 47m 10.20s, −45° 52′ 16.8″

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, March 08, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.