Planet May Orbit Neutron Star
(From the July/August 1997 issue of StarDate magazine)
A planet about twice as big as Earth may orbit Geminga, a dead star 500 light-years from Earth. About 300,000 years ago Geminga exploded as a supernova, leaving behind a corpse known as a neutron star. Geminga spins rapidly, generating powerful beams of energy that telescopes on Earth detect as strong radio "pulses." John Mattox of Boston University found that the timing of the pulses has changed slightly over the last 24 years. The changes may be caused by a planet tugging at Geminga as it orbits the dead star. Astronomers have discovered several planets orbiting a similar star. Mattox notes that conditions inside the neutron star could also account for the changes in Geminga's pulsations.
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