Vol. 623
In section 7. Stellar structure and evolution

A deep XMM-Newton look on the thermally emitting isolated neutron star RX J1605.3+3249

RX J1605.3+3249 is an isolated neutron star, emitting in the X-rays due to its heat. There are only seven known sources like this, referred to as the magnificent seven. They share similar characteristics and, in particular, they all show modulated X-ray emission at the spin period of the neutron star, in the 1-20 sec range. Here comes the sour note: the coherent periodicity previously discovered in RX J1605.3+3249 at 3.4 s, did not survive the deep scrutiny presented in this work. Strong constraints on the geometry can be set, allowing for only very small viewing angles, ~10 degrees along the rotation axis.