Object Analysis

PSR B1257+12, also known as Lich, is a pulsar located approximately 2,300 light-years from the Sun in the constellation of Virgo. It is famous for being the first star ever discovered to have planets. In 1992, astronomer Aleksander Wolszczan detected three planets—Draugr, Poltergeist, and Phobetor—orbiting this dead star.

The environment of this planetary system is hellish. The pulsar is a neutron star that rotates 161 times per second, bathing the planets in intense ionizing radiation. These planets likely formed from the debris of a companion star that was shredded by the pulsar, or from the fallback of material after the supernova that created the pulsar.

The discovery of these "pulsar planets" was a shock to the scientific community, as it proved that planets could exist—or form—around the most extreme and dead remnants of massive stars. It opened the door for the modern exoplanet hunting era that followed years later with the discovery of 51 Pegasi b.