The Geminga pulsar wind nebula in the mid-infrared and submillimetre

Greaves, Jane and Holland, W. S. 2017. The Geminga pulsar wind nebula in the mid-infrared and submillimetre. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters 471 (1) , L26-L30. 10.1093/mnrasl/slx098

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Abstract

The nearby middle-aged Geminga pulsar has crossed the Galactic plane within the last ∼0.1 Myr. We present archival data from Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer and from SCUBA and SCUBA-2 on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope to assess whether any midinfrared and submillimetre emission arises from interaction of the pulsar wind nebula with the interstellar medium. A candidate shell and bow shock are reported. Given the low pulsar velocity and local density, dust grains appear able to penetrate into the nebula. A compact source seen towards the pulsar is fitted with a dust spectrum. If confirmed as a real association at higher resolution, this could be a circum-pulsar disc of at least a few Earth-masses, in which future planets could form.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Physics and Astronomy
Subjects:	Q Science > QB Astronomy
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
ISSN:	17453925
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	9 November 2017
Date of Acceptance:	13 June 2017
Last Modified:	09 Nov 2017 15:47
URI:	http://orca.cf.ac.uk/id/eprint/106381

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