Three new millisecond pulsars detected with MeerKAT
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Positions of all the pulsars in M62, plotted as east-west (𝜃𝛼) and south-north (𝜃𝛿) offsets from the center of the GC. Credit: Vleeschower et al., 2024.
Using the MeerKAT radio telescope in South Africa, an international team of astronomers has detected three new millisecond pulsars in the globular cluster Messier 62 (also known as NGC 6266). The finding was detailed in a research paper published March 18 on the pre-print server arXiv.
Pulsars are highly-magnetized, rotating neutron stars emitting a beam of electromagnetic radiation. The most rapidly rotating pulsars, with rotation periods below 30 milliseconds, are known as millisecond pulsars (MSPs). Astronomers assume that they are formed in binary systems when the initially more massive component turns into a neutron star that is then spun up due to accretion of matter from the secondary star.
