Observation data Epoch J2000.0 Equinox J2000.0 | |
---|---|
Constellation | Taurus |
Right ascension | 03h 37m 43.82589s |
Declination | +17° 15′ 14.8280″ |
Characteristics | |
Spectral type | Pulsar |
Details | |
Other designations | |
PSR J0337+1715 | |
Database references | |
SIMBAD | data |
PSR J0337+1715 is a millisecond pulsar discovered in a Green Bank Telescope drift-scan survey from 2007. It is spinning nearly 366 times per second, 4200 light years away in the constellation Taurus. It is the first pulsar found in a stellar triple system. It is co-orbiting very closely with another star, a 0.2 solar-mass white dwarf, with a period of 1.6 days. There is a second white dwarf further out (within one astronomical unit) which is orbiting both the pulsar and the inner white dwarf, and has an orbit with a period of 327 days and a mass of 0.4 solar masses. [1] [2] The fact that the pulsar is part of a triple system provides an opportunity to test the nature of gravity and the strong equivalence principle, with a sensitivity several orders of magnitude greater than before. [3] [4] [5]
Results were published in 2018 showing that if there is any departure from the equivalence principle it is no more than three parts per million [2] [6] [7] at 95% confidence level, improved to two parts per million in 2020. [8]
In 2022 evidence for a small planet on a wide orbit was found. [9]
Companion (in order from star) |
Mass |
Semimajor axis ( AU) |
Orbital period ( days) |
Eccentricity | Inclination | Radius |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
PSR J0337+1715 (AB) b (unconfirmed) | 0.01-0.03 M🜨 | — | ~ 3000 days | — | — | — |
Observation data Epoch J2000.0 Equinox J2000.0 | |
---|---|
Constellation | Taurus |
Right ascension | 03h 37m 43.82589s |
Declination | +17° 15′ 14.8280″ |
Characteristics | |
Spectral type | Pulsar |
Details | |
Other designations | |
PSR J0337+1715 | |
Database references | |
SIMBAD | data |
PSR J0337+1715 is a millisecond pulsar discovered in a Green Bank Telescope drift-scan survey from 2007. It is spinning nearly 366 times per second, 4200 light years away in the constellation Taurus. It is the first pulsar found in a stellar triple system. It is co-orbiting very closely with another star, a 0.2 solar-mass white dwarf, with a period of 1.6 days. There is a second white dwarf further out (within one astronomical unit) which is orbiting both the pulsar and the inner white dwarf, and has an orbit with a period of 327 days and a mass of 0.4 solar masses. [1] [2] The fact that the pulsar is part of a triple system provides an opportunity to test the nature of gravity and the strong equivalence principle, with a sensitivity several orders of magnitude greater than before. [3] [4] [5]
Results were published in 2018 showing that if there is any departure from the equivalence principle it is no more than three parts per million [2] [6] [7] at 95% confidence level, improved to two parts per million in 2020. [8]
In 2022 evidence for a small planet on a wide orbit was found. [9]
Companion (in order from star) |
Mass |
Semimajor axis ( AU) |
Orbital period ( days) |
Eccentricity | Inclination | Radius |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
PSR J0337+1715 (AB) b (unconfirmed) | 0.01-0.03 M🜨 | — | ~ 3000 days | — | — | — |