Parkes observations for project P699 semester 2010APRS

We propose timing observations of PSR J1723-28, a highly-accelerated binary millisecond pulsar (MSP) discovered in the Parkes multibeam survey. This pulsar has proved difficult to detect reliably in Parkes follow-up observations at 1400 MHz, but several recent GBT detections at 2000 MHz and a handful of prior 1400 MHz Parkes detections have yielded an orbital ephemeris indicating that the pulsar has a low-mass companion which may be eclipsing the pulsar. J1723-28 may be a just-formed "baby MSP" with an unevolved (possibly extended) companion that is transitioning from a low-mass X-ray binary phase to a MSP phase (perhaps similar to the recently published PSR J1023+0038). We propose high-frequency observations with Parkes to obtain a phase-connected timing solution for the pulsar, determine the nature of the binary system, and localize the pulsar position with arcsecond precision. Localization will determine if a nearby X-ray source is associated with the pulsar. For this purpose, we request 6 observations over the course of this term of 1.25 hr each with either the Galileo 13 cm receiver or the 10/50 cm receiver (depending on receiver availability at the time of observation).