----- Submission 1 (Fri May 13 18:46:35 GMT 2005) ----- Enclosed is the submission of the SNAPSHOT proposal "The high proper motion of PSR B0540-69.3". The proposed program is written for WFPC2, but it can be done as easily with ACS/WFC. This increases its flexibility. Assigned ID: 342 ----- Submission 1 (Fri Jan 21 20:16:20 GMT 2005) ----- The high proper motion of PSR B0540-69.3 We wish to pin down the proper motion of the Crab-like pulsar PSR B0540-69.3. HST/WFPC2 archival data have an epoch separation by 4 years which we have already used to obtain a very high transverse velocity, 1190 +/- 560 km/s. The indicated direction of the proper motion is consistent with it being along the southern jet of the pulsar wind nebula. The high velocity could be linked to the high asymmetry of the supernova ejecta, which suggests a highly asymmetric supernova explosion. We need a third epoch of HST imaging to test our present 2-sigma limit. With the suggested observation we will obtain a 1-sigma limit on the transverse motion better than 200 km/s. PSR B0540-69.3 could be the third young pulsar connected to a supernova remnant for which a proper motion is established. The other two are the Crab and Vela pulsars. Both these pulsars have their proper motions aligned with the jet axis of their pulsar wind nebulae. PSR B0540-69.3 could thus be the third object (of three) to reveal that it shares this property. This would provide vital information to supernova explosion and pulsar kick models. PSR B0540-69.3 would undoubtedly also be the most distant pulsar ever for which a proper motion is established.
We wish to pin down the proper motion of the Crab-like pulsar PSR B0540-69.3. HST/WFPC2 archival data have an epoch separation by 4 years which we have already used to obtain a very high transverse velocity, 1190 +/- 560 km/s. The indicated direction of the proper motion is consistent with it being along the southern jet of the pulsar wind nebula. The high velocity could be linked to the high asymmetry of the supernova ejecta, which suggests a highly asymmetric supernova explosion. We need a third epoch of HST imaging to test our present 2-sigma limit. We were granted time to do this. Our proposal was submitted as a SNAP proposal, but that was converted by TAC to a 1-orbit GO program. With the suggested observation we will obtain a 1-sigma limit on the transverse motion better than 200 km/s. We will use WFPC2 equipped with the filters F547M and F555W to optimize the comparison with archival data (as was also suggested in the proposal). HOT STARS 12 false 0.0 false false false false false SUPPORTED STAR NEUTRON STAR J2000 05 40 11.1730 -69 19 54.41 J2000 WFPC2 Imaging No F547M POS-TARG DITHER 0.3535 LINE false false 2 45.0 WFPC2-LINE 1 false POS-TARG DITHER 0.3535 LINE false false 3 45.0 WFPC2-LINE 2 false /var/tmp/OPVisit57528.xml (Tic-Visit :proposal-id 10601 :visit-id "01" :proposal-version -1 :trans-version "20050717" :date "14-Sep-2005 08:28:50.0" :trans-errors '(:WARNINGS 0 :ERRORS 0 :HEALTH-AND-SAFETY 0 :FATAL-ERRORS 0 :CONTINUABLE-FATALS 0) :number-of-orbits 1 :saa-model "26" :si-bright-earth-limb-angle 20.0 :data-volume 313712 :tdrss-contact-duration 0 :coron NIL ) (Tic-Obset :proposal-id 10601 :visit-id "01" :obset-id "01" :pcs-mode "FGS" ) (Tic-Orbit :proposal-id 10601 :visit-id "01" :orbit-number 1 :pcs-time 367 :si-vis-utilization 3180 :al-overhead-at-end 120 :internal-dur-at-end 0 :dark-offset NIL :dark-utilization 0 :max-dark-utilization 1920 :low-sky "N" :pcs-visibility 3614 :pcs-gap 0 ) true 1 0 /tmp/OPVisit4814.xml