Parkes observations for project P1038 semester 2021APRS_06

PSR~J1759-2402 is one of a small handful of pulsars which are in orbit about high mass stars. Its orbital period is 8.3 years and the orbit is highly eccentric with periastron expected in 2021 March. Although discovered at Parkes, the Lovell telescope has been monitoring the pulsar over many years. However, it’s restricted bandwidth, maintenance schedule and poorer polarization capability make it unsuitable to follow the pulsar as it enters and leaves the eclipse by the companion. In contrast, the UWL on Parkes with its wide- band and excellent polarization characteristics means that we can, and already have determined scattering, polarization, dispersion measure and rotation measure changes as the pulsar enters its companion wind. We request a continuation of our weekly observations of the pulsar to track its progress on the far side of periastron.

PSR J1759-2402是少数几颗环绕大质量恒星运行的脉冲星（pulsar）之一。其轨道周期为8.3年，轨道具有极高偏心率，预计近星点（periastron）将在2021年3月到来。尽管该脉冲星是在帕克斯（Parkes）望远镜上被发现的，但洛弗尔望远镜（Lovell Telescope）已对其开展了多年的监测工作。然而，洛弗尔望远镜受限的带宽（bandwidth）、既定的维护计划（maintenance schedule），以及相对偏弱的偏振能力（polarization capability），使其无法追踪该脉冲星穿过伴星引发的掩食（eclipse）区域的全过程。与之形成鲜明对比的是，帕克斯望远镜搭载的UWL接收机（UWL）凭借超宽频带特性与优异的偏振观测性能，使得我们不仅能够开展相关观测，还已成功测定了脉冲星进入伴星星风（companion wind）过程中的散射（scattering）、偏振、色散量（dispersion measure）与旋转量（rotation measure）的变化情况。我们申请继续对该脉冲星进行每周一次的观测，以追踪其在近星点另一侧的运行轨迹。