🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1993Jan8.020559.10713@cbfsb.cb.att.com> wa2ise@cbnewsb.cb.att.com (robert.f.casey) writes:

   In article <C0HvLB.1op@zoo.toronto.edu> henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) writes:

   >Astronomers are very interested in the immediate vicinity of pulsars,
   >because it's an excellent bet that you can find objects of great theoretical
   >interest (accretion disks and such) there.  Peculiar and conspicuous objects
   >thereabouts would not be missed.  And yes, astronomers take the possibility

   About a year or so ago, some astronomers thought that they might have
   found planets orbiting a pulsar.  One suspect pulsar planetary system
   turned out to be false (orbit of one "planet" was 1/2 the time of Earth's,
   and thus suspect), but another looked good then.  Anyone know if this
   other (at the time) good detection has held up?  Confirmed?

The pulsar is PSR 1257+12, with timing anomalies consistent with the
presence of at least two planets of few Earth masses in  66 and 99 day
orbits (approximate). There is a possible third planet with orbital
period >> 1 year. The timing has remained consistent with the presence
of the planets and there is apparently the beginning of a hint of
evidence for planet-planet coupling in the timing, which was predicted
and is considered a "smoking gun" for confirmation.

There are other potential candidate pulsars which may have planets
around them, not yet confirmed.

*  Steinn Sigurdsson   			Lick Observatory      	*
*  steinly@lick.ucsc.edu		"standard disclaimer"  	*
*  The laws of gravity are very,very strict			*
*  And you're just bending them for your own benefit - B.B. 1988*