An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics
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A member of a small class of → X-ray pulsars with long rotation periods (6-12 seconds), short → spin-down times (~ 10³-10⁵ years), and → soft X-ray spectrum. AXPs show no evidence of being → X-ray binary systems. Their magnetic fields, as deduced from their spin-down rate, are the highest known, reaching 10¹³-10¹⁵ → gauss. AXPs are generally believed to be → magnetars.

→ anomalous; → X-ray; → pulsar.

A regularly variable X-ray source in which the pulsation is associated with the rotation of a magnetized neutron star in an → X-ray binary. Periods range from a few seconds to a few minutes. Examples include Hercules X-1, Centaurus X-3, Cygnus X-3.

→ X-ray; → pulsar.