Definition
Planets that orbit pulsars have been detected by detecting the changes in the times of the arrival of the radio pulses from the spinning host neutron stars, which serve as ultraprecise celestial clocks.
History
At a meeting of the International Astronomical Union in Buenos Aires in 1991, Andrew G. Lyne announced the discovery of a planet orbiting the pulsar PSR B1829-10, based on periodic changes in the times of the arrival of pulses from the host neutron star, measured with the radio telescope at Jodrell Bank (Bailes et al. 1991). Regrettably, the 6-month periodic signal was due to a subtle error in the treatment of the motion of the one real planet involved, namely the Earth. Nevertheless, the intense interest in PSR B1829-10 motivated theoretical work on the survival and/or formation of planets in systems involving supernovaevents, which produce pulsars. This set the stage for the dramatic discovery of a system of three planets orbiting the 6.2-millisecond (ms) pulsar...
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References and Further Reading
Bailes M, Lyne AG, Shemar SL (1991) A planet orbiting the neutron star p SR1829–10. Nature 352:311
Currie T, Hansen BMS (2007) The evolution of protoplanetary disks around millisecond pulsars: the SR 1257+12 system. Astrophys J 666:1232
Hansen BMS, Shih H-Y, Currie T (2009) The pulsar planets: a test case of terrestrial planet assembly. Astrophys J 691:382
Konacki M, Wolszczan A (2003) Masses and orbital inclinations of planets in the PSR B1257+12 system. Astrophys J 591:147
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Lorimer DR (2008) Binary and millisecond pulsars. Living Rev Relat. http://relativity.livingreviews.org/Articles/lrr-2008-8
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Phinney ES, Hansen BMS (1993) The pulsar planet production process. Astron Soc Pac Conf Ser 36:371
Podsiadlowski P (1993) Planet formation scenarios. Astron Soc Pac Conf Ser 36:149
Rasio FA et al (1992) An observational test for the existence of a planetary system orbiting PSR1257+12. Nature 355:325
Wang Z, Chakrabarty D, Kaplan D (2006) A debris disk around an isolated young neutron star. Nature 440:772
Wolszczan A (1994) Confirmation of Earth-mass planets orbiting the millisecond pulsar PSR B1257+12. Science 264:538
Wolszczan A (2008) Fifteen years of the neutron star planet research. Phys Scr 130:4005
Wolszczan A, Frail DA (1992) A planetary system around the millisecond pulsar PSR1257+12. Nature 355:145
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Wolszczan, A. (2014). Pulsar Planets. In: Amils, R., et al. Encyclopedia of Astrobiology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27833-4_1309-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27833-4_1309-2
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