Abstract
Cocke, Disney and Taylor1 recently reported the discovery of strong optical pulses occurring in the Crab Nebula with a period in good agreement with that found for the pulsating radio source NP 0532. This result was immediately confirmed by Nather, Warner and MacFarlane2 and by Lynds, Maran, Trumbo, Grueff and DeVeny3. All these observations were obtained with a conventional photoelectric photometer the output of which was recorded on a multiscaler analyser operating at or near the period of the radio pulses. This work showed that the optical source was in the vicinity of the south-west preceding component of a double star near the centre of the Crab Nebula, a star previously suspected by Baade4 and Minkowski5 as being the remnant of the supernova explosion that produced the Nebula. In a study of the motions of light ripples in the Nebula, Scargle6 found the centre of continuing optical activity to be close to the south-west star although he noted there was some indication that the centre was not at the star itself.
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References
Cocke, W. J., Disney, M. J., and Taylor, D. J., Nature, 221, 525 (1969).
Nather, R. E., Warner, B., and MacFarlane, M., Nature, 221, 527 (1969).
Lynds, R., Maran, S. P., Trumbo, D. E., Grueff, G., and DeVeny, J., IAU Circ., No. 2129 (1969).
Baade, W., Astrophys. J., 96, 188 (1942).
Minkowski, R., Astrophys. J., 96, 199 (1942).
Scargle, J., Astrophys. Lett., (in the press).
Trimble, V., A.J., 73, 535 (1968).
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MILLER, J., WAMPLER, E. Television Detection of the Crab Nebula Pulsar. Nature 221, 1037–1038 (1969). https://doi.org/10.1038/2211037a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/2211037a0
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