Issue |
A&A
Volume 394, Number 2, November I 2002
|
|
---|---|---|
Page(s) | 633 - 639 | |
Section | Interstellar and circumstellar matter | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20021155 | |
Published online | 15 October 2002 |
Subaru optical observations of the old pulsar PSR B0950+08*
1
Observatorio Astronomico Nacional SPM, Instituto de Astronomia, UNAM, Ensenada, BC, Mexico e-mail: zhar@astrosen.unam.mx
2
Ioffe Physical Technical Institute, Politekhnicheskaya 26, St. Petersburg, 194021, Russia e-mail: kopts@astro.ioffe.rssi.ru; shib@stella.ioffe.rssi.ru
3
Department of Physics, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 2-12-1 Ookayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152-8551, Japan
4
RIKEN (Institute of Physical and Chemical Research), 2-1 Hirosawa, Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan e-mail: nkawai@hp.phys.titech.ac.jp, urata@crab.riken.go.jp
5
Special Astrophysical Observatory of RAS, Karachai-Cherkessia, Nizhnij Arkhyz, 357167, Russia
6
Isaac Newton Institute of Chile, SAO Branch, Russia e-mail: vkom@sao.ru, sokolov@sao.ru
7
Department of Physics, Yamagata University, Yamagata 990-8560, Japan e-mail: shibata@sci.kj.yamagata-u.ac.jp
8
Department of Physics, Rikkyo University, Nishi-Ikebukuro, Tokyo 171-8501, Japan e-mail: shibazak@rikkyo.ac.jp
Corresponding author: Yu. A. Shibanov, shib@stella.ioffe.rssi.ru
Received:
14
June
2002
Accepted:
8
August
2002
We report the B band optical observations of an old ( Myr) radiopulsar PSR B0950+08 obtained with the Suprime-Cam at
the Subaru telescope. We detected a faint object,
.
Within our astrometrical accuracy
it coincides with the radio position of the pulsar and
with the object detected earlier by Pavlov et al. ([CITE]) in UV with
the HST /FOC/F130LP. The positional coincidence and spectral
properties of the object suggest that it is
the optical
counterpart of PSR B0950+08.
Its flux
in the B band
is two times higher
than one would expect from the suggested earlier
Rayleigh-Jeans interpretation of the only available
HST observations in the adjacent F130LP band. Based on the B and
F130LP photometry
of the suggested counterpart
and on the available X-ray data we argue in favour
of nonthermal origin of the broad-band optical spectrum of PSR B0950+08,
as it is observed for the optical emission of the younger, middle-aged
pulsars PSR B0656+14 and Geminga. At the same time,
the optical efficiency
of PSR B0950+08,
estimated
from
its
spin-down power
and the detected optical flux,
is by several orders of magnitude higher than for
these
pulsars, and comparable with that for the much younger and more
energetic Crab pulsar. We cannot exclude the presence of a compact,
~1´´, faint pulsar nebula around PSR B0950+08, elongated
perpendicular to the vector of its proper motion, unless it is not a
projection of a faint extended object
on
the pulsar position.
Key words: pulsars: general / pulsars: individual: PSR B0950+08 / stars: neutron
© ESO, 2002
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