Chandra Observations of Neutron Stars — An Overview

THE CHANDRA X-RAY OBSERVATORY Observations of Neutron Stars

We present here an overview of the status of the Chandra X-ray Observatory which has now been operating for five years. The Observatory is running smoothly, and the scientific return continues to be outstanding. We provide some details on the molecular contamination of the ACIS filters and its impact on observations. We review the observations with Chandra of the pulsar in the Crab Nebula and a...

X-Ray Observations of Neutron Stars with XMM-Newton & Chandra

Monitoring Chandra Observations of the Quasi-persistent Neutron-star X-ray Transient Mxb 1659–29 in Quiescence: the Cooling Curve of the Heated Neutron-star Crust

We have observed the quasi-persistent neutron-star X-ray transient and eclipsing binary MXB 1659– 29 in quiescence on three occasions with Chandra. The purpose of our observations was to monitor the quiescent behavior of the source after its last prolonged (∼2.5 years) outburst which ended in September 2001. The X-ray spectra of the source are consistent with thermal radiation from the neutron-...

New Constraints on Neutron Star Cooling from Chandra Observations of 3C58

3C58 is a young Crab-like supernova remnant. Historical evidence strongly suggests an association of the remnant with supernova SN 1181, which would make 3C58 younger than the Crab Nebula. Recent Chandra observations have identified the young 65 ms pulsar J0205+6449 at its center, embedded in a compact nebula which, we show here, appears to be confined by the pulsar wind termination shock. We p...

The Magnetospheres of (Accreting) Neutron Stars Observational Clues

I give an overview of the most important observational tools to study the magnetospheres of accreting neutron stars, with a focus on accreting neutron stars in high mass X-ray binary systems. Topics covered are the different types of accretion onto neutron stars and the structure of the accretion column, and how models for these can be tested with observations.