Azerbaijan National Academy of Science

Astronomers have detected a new slowly rotating radio pulsar as part of the SUrvey for Pulsars and Extragalactic Radio Bursts (SUPERB). The newly found object, designated PSR J2251−3711, turns out to be one of the slowest spinning radio pulsars known to date.

Extraterrestrial sources of radiation with a regular periodicity, known as pulsars, are usually detected in the form of short bursts of radio emission. Radio pulsars are generally described as highly magnetized, rapidly rotating neutron stars with a lighthouse beam of radiation that produces the pulsed emission.

However, finding new, long-period radio pulsars with a spin period of over 5.0 seconds is challenging. Notably, only five of the 10 longest-period pulsars known have been found in periodicity searches, mainly due to their consistently larger aggregated flux over time.

Now, a team of astronomers led by Vincent Morello of the University of Manchester, U.K., reports the discovery of a new radio pulsar with a very long spin period, which received designation PSR J2251-3711. The finding was made using the Parkes Observatory in Australia, as part of the SUPERB survey.

www.news.rambler.ru