Pulsar planet

They are extremely rare, with only half a dozen listed by the NASA Exoplanet Archive.

The intense radiation and winds consisting of electron-positron pairs would tend to strip atmospheres away from such planets, thus making them unlikely abodes for life.

[1] Compared to young stars, pulsars have a much higher luminosity and thus the formation of a dead zone is hindered by the ionization of the disk by the pulsar's radiation,[2] which allows the magnetorotational instability to trigger turbulence and thus destroy the dead zone.

[4] There are several processes[a] that could give rise to planetary systems: The formation scenarios have consequences for the planets' composition: A planet formed from supernova debris is likely rich in metals and radioactive isotopes[15] and may contain large quantities of water;[18] one formed through the break-up of a white dwarf would be carbon rich[15] and consist of large amounts of diamond;[19] an actual white dwarf fragment would be extremely dense.

[30] The discovery demonstrated that exoplanets can be detected from Earth,[31] and led to the expectation that extrasolar planets might not be uncommon.

[34] Pulsar planets have been invoked to explain certain astronomical phenomena, such as X-ray bursts from soft gamma repeaters.

[6] This would be particularly important for millisecond pulsars that were spun up by accretion, while they formed X-ray binaries; the radiation emitted under these circumstances would evaporate any planet.

[40] Pulsars remain visible for only a few million years, less than the time it takes for a planet to form, thus limiting the chance of observing one.

[66] The planet takes just 0.133 days (3.2 h) to complete an orbit, and is located at a distance equivalent to 0.49% of an astronomical unit from M62H.

[67] The pulsar PSR B1257+12, 710+43−38 parsecs away[68] in the constellation Virgo, was confirmed to have planets in 1992 based on observations made with the Arecibo Observatory.

[70] They most likely formed from a protoplanetary disk,[1] probably generated from the partial destruction of a companion star.

[73] A cthonian planet[74] with a mass comparable to Jupiter but less than 40% of its radius orbits the pulsar PSR J1719-1438.

[k][77] Its existence may demonstrate that planets can form in metal-poor medium including the globular clusters.

[86] The existence of a dust cloud at the pulsar Geminga that may be a precursor to planets has been proposed.

[102] Pulsars do not emit large quantities of radiation given their small size; the habitable zone can easily end up lying so close to the star that tidal effects destroy the planets.

Artist's concept of a pulsar with planets