Newly discovered black widow pulsar has the fastest rotation

Astronomers discovered a new rare binary star known as a black widow pulsar. In this system a neutron star consumes material from its small neighbor. Only about two dozen of black widow pulsars are known. The new system, which lies 3 thousand light years away, was designated ZTF J1406+1222.

The system ZTF J1406+1222 is unique in two ways. It has the fastest rotation of all known black widows (only 62 minutes) and there seems to be a third object orbiting the pair in a distance.