Taking the Pulse of Our Youngest Neighborhood Neutron Star

The Xray point source at the center of the remnant of SN1181 (3C58) is almostcertainly the youngest neutron star we have yet observed. Although slightlyyounger than the Crab pulsar, both it, and its surrounding synchrotron nebulaare roughly 1000 times less luminous than the Crab. We want to know why. Wepropose EPIC observations to gather two key pieces of data needed to solve thismystery: the star.s spin period and its temporally resolved spectrum which isessential for defining its Xray emission mechanism(s). The result will be acrucial additional datum on the distribution of the natal properties of neutronstars. truncated!, Please see actual data for full text [truncated!, Please see actual data for full text]