Astron. Astrophys. 333, 547-556 (1998)

BVRI observations of PSR B0656+14 with the 6-meter telescope

V.G. Kurt ¹, V.V. Sokolov ², S.V. Zharikov ², G.G. Pavlov ³ and B.V. Komberg <sup>1

1</sup> Astro Space Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 117810 Moscow, Russia (vkurt@dpc.asc.rssi.ru)
² Special Astrophysical Observatory of RAS, Karachai-Cherkessia, 357147 Nizhnij Arkhyz, Russia (sokolov@sao.ru)
³ The Pennsylvania State University, Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, 535 Davey Lab, University Park, PA 16802, USA (pavlov@astro.psu.edu)

Received 17 July 1997 / Accepted 10 November 1997

Abstract

We observed the middle-aged radio pulsar B0656+14 with a CCD detector at the 6-m telescope. Broadband BVRI images show the following magnitudes of the pulsar counterpart: . We fitted the UV-optical (space + ground-based) data with a two-component model which combines a power law (non-thermal component) with a thermal spectrum emitted by the neutron star surface. The power law component, with the energy power-law index , dominates in the observed range. Constraints on the thermal component correspond to the Rayleigh-Jeans parameter , where  K is the brightness temperature,  km is the neutron star radius as seen by a distant observer, and  pc is the distance. The shape of the optical-UV spectrum of PSR B0656+14 differs considerably from those observed from other pulsars: the middle-aged Geminga and young Crab, Vela.

Key words: pulsars: individual: PSR B0656+14 stars: pre-main sequence stars: neutron

SIMBAD Objects

Contents

• 1. Introduction
• 2. Observations and data analysis
  • 2.1. Observations
  • 2.2. Data reduction
  • 2.3. Astrometrical referencing
  • 2.4. Photometry
  • 2.5. Optical counterpart of PSR B0656+14
  • 2.6. Objects in near vicinity of the PSR B0656+14 counterpart
• 3. Discussion.
• Acknowledgements
• References

© European Southern Observatory (ESO) 1998

Online publication: April 20, 1998
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