La genèse de la chasse aux exoplanètes - Québec Science
Jusqu'à la découverte officielle de la première exoplanètes en 1995, la traque de ces mondes lointains était un sujet marginal, voire tabou.
e Canadien Dale Frail, dévoilent en 1992
Les alertes se poursuivent, mais aucune n’est assez décisive pour lancer la discipline. Pire, elles jettent carrément un doute sur l’existence d’autres planètes semblables à celles qui nous entourent. En 1989, l’Américain Dave Latham proclame la découverte d’un objet étrange, probablement une naine brune, qui par définition n’est ni une planète ni une étoile. La révélation suivante est encore plus énigmatique, car elle remet en cause de nombreuses théories. Deux chercheurs, dont l <anchor>e Canadien Dale Frail, dévoilent en 1992</anchor> la bagatelle de deux compagnons rocheux orbitant autour d’un pulsar, le résidu de l’explosion d’une étoile. Paradoxalement, cette prouesse est à peine relevée par la communauté scientifique.
A planetary system around the millisecond pulsar PSR1257 + 12 | Nature
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- Letter
- Published: 09 January 1992

# A planetary system around the millisecond pulsar PSR1257 + 12

MILLISECOND radio pulsars, which are old (∼109yr), rapidly rotating neutron stars believed to be spun up by accretion of matter from their stellar companions, are usually found in binary systems with other degenerate stars1. Using the 305-m Arecibo radiotelescope to make precise timing measurements of pulses from the recently discovered 6.2-ms pulsar PSR1257 +12 (ref. 2), we demonstrate that, rather than being associated with a stellar object, the pulsar is orbited by two or more planet-sized bodies. The planets detected so far have masses of at least 2.8 M ⊕ and 3.4 M ⊕ where M⊕ is the mass of the Earth. Their respective distances from the pulsar are 0.47 AU and 0.36 AU, and they move in almost circular orbits with periods of 98.2 and 66.6 days. Observations indicate that at least one more planet may be present in this system. The detection of a planetary system around a nearby (∼500 pc), old neutron star, together with the recent report on a planetary companion to the pulsar PSR1829–10 (ref. 3) raises the tantalizing possibility that a non-negligible fraction of neutron stars observable as radio pulsars may be orbited by planet-like bodies.

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## Author information

### Authors and Affiliations

1. National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center, Arecibo Observatory, Arecibo, Puerto Rico 00613, USA https://www.nature.com/nature

A. Wolszczan

D. A. Frail

Authors

1. A. Wolszczan

2. D. A. Frail

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### Cite this article

Wolszczan, A., Frail, D. A planetary system around the millisecond pulsar PSR1257 + 12.
Nature 355, 145–147 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1038/355145a0

- Received: 21 November 1991

- Accepted: 09 December 1991

- Issue Date: 09 January 1992

- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/355145a0

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## Editorial Summary

### Pulsar planets

The utility of the clock-like pulses emitted by pulsars [see Nature 217, 709-713 (1968)] did not end with the insights they have yielded into the properties of neutron stars, and hence of high-density matter. In 1992, Wolszczan and Frail reported precise pulsar timing measurements which exhibited periodic variations. Unlike similar observations reported in the previous year (cited as ref. 3 in the paper), these variations were not an artefact, but revealed the presence of two or more planet-sized objects orbiting the neutron star — the first such objects to be detected outside the Solar System.

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