2018/09/17 by B. Posselt, G. G. Pavlov, George G. Pavlov +7
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Astrophysics #Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Flux (metallurgy) #Galaxy #Interstellar medium #Nebula #Neutron star #Optics #Physics #Point source #Pulsar #Pulsar wind nebula #astro-ph.HE #astro-ph.SR
paper · pdf · doi:10.3847/1538-4357/aad6df
published as ApJ (2018) 865, 1 · 17 pages, 8 figures
openalex publication_date 2018/09/17 · arxiv created 2018/09/20 · arxiv updated 2018/09/24 · openalex created_date 2018/09/27 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
Abstract Following up on a faint detection of a near-infrared (NIR) source at the position of the X-ray thermal isolated neutron star RX J0806.4–4123, we present new Hubble Space Telescope observations in the H -band. The NIR source is unambiguously detected with a Vega magnitude of 23.7 ± 0.2 (flux density of 0.40 ± 0.06 μ Jy at λ = 1.54 μ m). The source position is coincident with the neutron star position, and the implied NIR flux is strongly in excess of what one would expect from an extrapolation of the optical-UV spectrum of RX J0806.4–4123. The NIR source is extended, with a size of at least 0.″8, and shows some asymmetry. The conservative upper limit on the flux contribution of a point source is 50%. Emission from gas and dust in the ambient diffuse interstellar medium can be excluded as a cause for the extended emission. The source parameters are consistent with an interpretation as either the first NIR-only detected pulsar wind nebula or the first resolved disk around an isolated neutron star.