NICER Observations of the Ultraluminous X-ray Pulsar NGC 300 ULX-1
Abstract
Recently, the ultraluminous X-ray source in the spiral galaxy NGC 300 was revealed to be an accretion-powered pulsar, with a spin period that is rapidly decreasing with time, from 31 seconds in 2016 December to 16 seconds at present. Since 2018 February 6, NICER has been monitoring this source. We will report on the spin evolution of this unique source, which includes the discovery of several "anti-glitches", where the rapid spin up is interrupted by sudden spindown glitches, in contrast to the usual spin-up glitches observed in radio pulsars.NICER is a 0.2-12 keV X-ray telescope operating on the International Space Station. The NICER mission and portions of the NICER science team activities are funded by NASA.
- Publication:
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AAS/High Energy Astrophysics Division
- Pub Date:
- March 2019
- Bibcode:
- 2019HEAD...1711117R