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Session 50 - Pulsars in the UV and Visible.
Topical, Oral session, Wednesday, June 10
Friars,
The Faint Object Spectrograph has been used to obtain a prism spectrum of the pulsar B0540-69, located in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The spectrum, covering 2500--5500 Åshows a smooth continuum with several broad emission lines. While the lines are produced by the surrounding nebula, the time-averaged emission from the pulsar is the dominant source of the continuum. The observed spectral index of the continuum is \alpha = -2.5 \pm 0.2 between 2500 and 4500 ÅUsing E(B-V) = 0.20 \pm 0.05 mag gives an unreddenned spectral index of \alpha_o = -1.6 \pm 0.4. This is significantly different from the Crab pulsar (\alpha_o = 0.11 \pm 0.13), which is the only other pulsar with a measured optical spectrum.
