The Distance and Radius of the Neutron Star PSR B0656+14
Open Access
- 18 July 2003
- journal article
- Published by American Astronomical Society in The Astrophysical Journal
- Vol. 593 (2) , L89-L92
- https://doi.org/10.1086/378184
Abstract
We present the result of astrometric observations of the radio pulsar PSR B0656+14, made using the Very Long Baseline Array. The parallax of the pulsar is pi = 3.47 +- 0.36 mas, yielding a distance of 288 +33 -27 pc. This independent distance estimate has been used to constrain existing models of thermal x-ray emission from the neutron star's photosphere. Simple blackbody fits to the x-ray data formally yield a neutron star radius R_inf ~ 7-8.5 km. With more realistic fits to a magnetized hydrogen atmosphere, any radius between ~13 and ~20 km is allowed.Comment: 7 pages including 1 figure. Submitted to ApJL. AASteKeywords
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