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press release from NRAO
http://www.nrao.edu/pr/2005/fastpulsar/
The fastest-moving neutron star ever seen, clocked at 1100 kilometers per second, a speed that will take it out of the Milky Way galaxy, was given its initial "kick-off" by the supernova that formed it.
journal article
http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0509031
Getting Its Kicks: A VLBA Parallax for the Hyperfast Pulsar B1508+55
S. Chatterjee et al.
5 pages, including 2 figures
Astrophys.J. 630 (2005) L61-L64
"The highest velocity neutron stars establish stringent constraints on natal kicks, asymmetries in supernova core collapse, and the evolution of close binary systems. Here we present the first results of a long-term pulsar astrometry program using the VLBA. We measure a proper motion and parallax for the pulsar B1508+55, leading to model-independent estimates of its distance (2.37+0.23-0.20 kpc) and transverse velocity (1083+103-90 km/s), the highest velocity directly measured for a neutron star. We trace the pulsar back from its present Galactic latitude of 52.3 degrees to a birth site in the Galactic plane near the Cyg OB associations, and find that it will inevitably escape the Galaxy. Binary disruption alone is insufficient to impart the required birth velocity, and a natal kick is indicated. A composite scenario including a large kick along with binary disruption can plausibly account for the high velocity.
popular magazine account:
http://www.astronomy.com/asy/default.aspx?c=a&id=3471
a discussion of various "kick" mechanisms that might give neutron stars high speeds is in this paper, see bottom of page 7
http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0106159
http://www.nrao.edu/pr/2005/fastpulsar/
The fastest-moving neutron star ever seen, clocked at 1100 kilometers per second, a speed that will take it out of the Milky Way galaxy, was given its initial "kick-off" by the supernova that formed it.
journal article
http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0509031
Getting Its Kicks: A VLBA Parallax for the Hyperfast Pulsar B1508+55
S. Chatterjee et al.
5 pages, including 2 figures
Astrophys.J. 630 (2005) L61-L64
"The highest velocity neutron stars establish stringent constraints on natal kicks, asymmetries in supernova core collapse, and the evolution of close binary systems. Here we present the first results of a long-term pulsar astrometry program using the VLBA. We measure a proper motion and parallax for the pulsar B1508+55, leading to model-independent estimates of its distance (2.37+0.23-0.20 kpc) and transverse velocity (1083+103-90 km/s), the highest velocity directly measured for a neutron star. We trace the pulsar back from its present Galactic latitude of 52.3 degrees to a birth site in the Galactic plane near the Cyg OB associations, and find that it will inevitably escape the Galaxy. Binary disruption alone is insufficient to impart the required birth velocity, and a natal kick is indicated. A composite scenario including a large kick along with binary disruption can plausibly account for the high velocity.
popular magazine account:
http://www.astronomy.com/asy/default.aspx?c=a&id=3471
a discussion of various "kick" mechanisms that might give neutron stars high speeds is in this paper, see bottom of page 7
http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0106159