Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2007-03-13
Astrophys.J.660:1428-1443,2007
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
17 pages, 8 figures. To be published in ApJ
Scientific paper
10.1086/513309
We have used a set of dedicated astrometric data from the Hubble Space Telescope to measure the parallax and proper motion of the nearby neutron star RX J0720.4-3125. At each of eight epochs over two years, we used the High Resolution Camera of the Advanced Camera for Surveys to measure the position of the B=26.6 target to a precision of ~2 mas (~0.07 pix) relative to 22 other stars. From these data we measure a parallax of pi=2.8+/-0.9 mas (for a distance of 360+170-90 pc) and a proper motion of mu=107.8+/-1.2 mas/yr. Exhaustive testing of every stage of our analysis suggests that it is robust, with a maximum systematic uncertainty on the parallax of 0.4 mas. The distance is compatible with earlier estimates made from scaling the optical emission of RX J0720.4-3125 relative to the even closer neutron star RX J1856.5-3754. The distance and proper motion imply a transverse velocity of 180+90-40 km/s, comparable to velocities observed for radio pulsars. The speed and direction suggest an origin for RX J0720.4-3125 in the Trumpler 10 OB association ~0.7 Myr ago, with a possible range of 0.5-1.0 Myr given by the uncertainty in the distance.
Anderson Jeffrey
Kaplan David L.
van Kerkwijk Marten Henric
No associations
LandOfFree
The Distance to the Isolated Neutron Star RX J0720.4-3125 does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with The Distance to the Isolated Neutron Star RX J0720.4-3125, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and The Distance to the Isolated Neutron Star RX J0720.4-3125 will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-715486