View source for 3C 58

{{short description|Supernova remnant in the constellation of 
Cassiopeia}}
{{Starbox begin
| name= 3C 58 }}
{{starbox image|image=[[Image:3C58 chandra.jpg|3c58_xray_pullout.jpg|250px]]|caption=X-ray image of 3C&nbsp;58 by the [[Chandra X-Ray Observatory]]. <br/> The pullout box shows the inner [[torus|toroidal]]-shaped nebula}}
{{Starbox observe
| epoch = [[J2000.0]]
| constell = [[Cassiopeia (constellation)|Cassiopeia]]<ref>{{cite constellation|3C 58}}</ref>
| ra = {{RA|02|05|37.0}}<ref name=wenss>{{cite journal |bibcode=1997A&AS..124..259R }}</ref>
| dec = {{DEC|+64|49|42}}<ref name=wenss/>
| appmag_v = 8.17{{cn|date=July 2025}}
}}{{Starbox character
| class = III<ref name="yakovlev"/>
}}{{Starbox astrometry
| dist_ly = 10,000{{cn|date=July 2025}}
| dist_pc = 3067.48 {{cn|date=July 2025}}
| absmag_v = 3.70{{cn|date=July 2025}}
}}{{Starbox detail
| mass = 1.36–1.52<ref name="yakovlev"/>
| temperature = 150,000<ref name="yakovlev"/>
| rotation=65.7159285 [[millisecond|ms]]
| age=3500{{cn|date=July 2025}}
}}{{Starbox catalog
| names = [[Supernova remnant|SNR]]&nbsp;G130.7+03.1, ASB&nbsp;5, RX&nbsp;J0205.5+6449, [[1RXS]]&nbsp;J020529.7+644934, [[Pulsar|PSR]]&nbsp;J0205+6449<ref name="yakovlev">{{cite journal|arxiv=astro-ph/0204233|doi=10.1051/0004-6361:20020699|title=The cooling neutron star in 3C 58|year=2002|last1=Yakovlev|first1=D. G.|last2=Kaminker|first2=A. D.|last3=Haensel|first3=P.|last4=Gnedin|first4=O. Y.|s2cid=6247160|journal=Astronomy & Astrophysics|volume=389|pages=L24–L27|bibcode=2002A&A...389L..24Y}}</ref>
}}
{{Starbox reference
| Simbad=3C+58
}}
{{starbox end}}
'''3C 58''' or '''3C58''' is a [[pulsar]] (designation PSR&nbsp;J0205+6449) and [[supernova remnant]] ([[pulsar wind nebula]]) within the [[Milky Way]].  The object is listed as No. 58 in the [[Third Cambridge Catalogue of Radio Sources]].

It is located 2° northeast of [[Epsilon Cassiopeiae|ε Cassiopeiae]] and is estimated to be 10,000 [[light-year]]s away. Its rotation period is 65.7 [[millisecond|ms]] (so PSR&nbsp;J0205+6449 does not belong to the class of [[millisecond pulsar]]s).

The pulsar is notable for its very high rate of cooling, which is unexplained by standard models of [[neutron star]] formation. It is hypothesized that extreme conditions in the star's interior cause a high [[neutrino]] [[flux]], which carries away the energy so that the star cools.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2004/3c58/ |title=Chandra :: Photo Album :: 3C58 |publisher=Chandra.harvard.edu |date= 14 December 2004|access-date=21 August 2012}}</ref><ref name="yakovlev"/>
3C&nbsp;58 has been proposed as a possible [[quark star]] (or [[strange star]]).<ref>{{Cite news|url = http://www.npl.washington.edu/AV/altvw114.html|title = Quark Stars|last = Cramer|first = John G.|date=November 2002 |work = Analog Science Fiction & Fact Magazine|access-date = 17 August 2015 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title = RX J1856.5-3754 (and the 3C58 Pulsar)|url = http://www.solstation.com/x-objects/rxj1856.htm|website = www.solstation.com|access-date = 18 August 2015}}</ref>

The age of the 3C 58 remnant has been measured by a number of independent methods. The proper motion of the expanding optical shell of 3C 58 has been measured three times, always with an indicated age of around 3500 years, with this being the direct and distance-independent measure.<ref>{{cite journal
| title=Optical Imaging and Spectroscopy of the Galactic Supernova Remnant 3C 58 (G130.7+3.1) 
| last1=Fesen |  first1=Robert  |last2=Rudie  |first2=Gwen  |last3=Hurford  |first3=Alan  |last4=Soto  |first4=Aljeandro
| year=2008 |  journal=[[The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series]]
| volume=174
| issue=2 | pages=379–395
| doi=10.1086/522781
| bibcode=2008ApJS..174..379F
| s2cid=120672848 | doi-access=free}}</ref>
Estimates from the expansion measurements of the filamentary structure in the radio of the synchrotron nebula suggest the age to roughly 7000 years, independent of distance.<ref>{{Cite journal|title = Radio Images of 3C 58: Expansion and Motion of Its Wisp|url = http://cdsbib.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/cdsbib?2006ApJ...645.1180B|journal = The Astrophysical Journal|date = 1 July 2006|issn = 0004-637X|pages = 1180–1187|volume = 645|doi = 10.1086/504584|first = M. F.|last = Bietenholz|s2cid = 16820726|issue = 2|arxiv = astro-ph/0603197|bibcode = 2006ApJ...645.1180B}}{{Dead link|date=October 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot }}</ref>
Several methods for estimating the remnant's age have proven to have such a large uncertainty as to not be useful, with these methods including those involving the pulsar energetics, the swept-up mass, the pulsar offset from the center of 3C 58, and the changing of the nebular radio brightness.<ref name="Kothes">{{cite journal
| author=Kothes, A.
| title=Distance and age of the pulsar wind nebula 3C 58
| journal=[[Astronomy and Astrophysics]]
| volume=560
| year=2013
| pages=A18
| doi=10.1051/0004-6361/201219839
| arxiv=1307.8384
| bibcode=2013A&A...560A..18K| s2cid=118595074
}}</ref>
The spin-down age of the pulsar is 5380 years, while the cooling age of the neutron star is >5000 years.  Taking all available evidence, 3C 58 has an age somewhere from 3500 to 5500 years.

From 1971 to 2021, 3C 58 has been speculatively connected to the [[SN 1181|Supernova of 1181 AD]], as reported by Chinese and Japanese observers.<ref>{{cite journal
| title=A Suspected Supernova in A. D. 1181
| last1=Stephenson | first1=F. Richard
| journal=[[Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society]]
| volume=12
| year=1971
| pages=10–38
| bibcode=1971QJRAS..12...10S }}</ref>  The basis for this was that 3C 58 was the only supernova remnant known in the large old historical region for the SN 1181.  However, multiple factors, including the age (3500 to 5500 years) and energetics of the remnant, all point to 3C 58 as not being the remnant of SN 1181.  Further, an analysis of the old East Asian reports used added information on the reported proximity to several old Chinese constellations, and concluded that 3C 58 is at a sky position far outside the error region of the observed SN 1181.  A second conclusive argument is that the real remnant of SN 1181 was discovered by American amateur astronomer Dana Patchik, designated Pa 30.  Pa 30 is known from multiple independent measures to be a supernova remnant with an age close to 800 years, and it is inside the modern sky position for the 1181 supernova.<ref>{{cite journal
| journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]
|last1=Gvaramadze |first1=Vasilii V. |display-authors=etal 
|title=A massive white-dwarf merger product before final collapse | volume=569
| year=2019
| issue=7758
| pages=684–687
| doi=10.1038/s41586-019-1216-1
|pmid=31110332 |arxiv=1904.00012 | bibcode=2019Natur.569..684G  |s2cid=90260784 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal
| journal=[[Astronomy & Astrophysics]]
|last1=Oskinova |first1=Lidia M. |display-authors=etal 
|title=X-rays observations of a super-Chandrasekhar object reveal an ONe and a CO white dwarf merger product embedded in a putative SN Iax remnant | volume=644
| year=2020
| pages=L8
| doi=10.1051/0004-6361/202039232
|arxiv=2008.10612 | bibcode=2020A&A...644L...8O  |s2cid=221293111 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal
| journal=[[The Astrophysical Journal Letters]]
|last1=Ritter |first1=Andreas |display-authors=etal 
|title=The Remnant and Origin of the Historical Supernova 1181 AD | volume=918
| year=2021
|issue=2 | pages=L33
| doi=10.3847/2041-8213/ac2253
|arxiv=2105.12384 | bibcode=2021ApJ...918L..33R  |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Schaefer |first=Bradley E. |date=2023-08-01 |title=The path from the Chinese and Japanese observations of supernova 1181 AD, to a Type Iax supernova, to the merger of CO and ONe white dwarfs |journal=Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society |volume=523 |issue=3 |pages=3885–3904 |doi=10.1093/mnras/stad717 |doi-access=free |issn=0035-8711|arxiv=2301.04807 |bibcode=2023MNRAS.523.3885S }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Fesen |first1=Robert A. |last2=Schaefer |first2=Bradley E. |last3=Patchick |first3=Dana |date=2023-01-11 |title=Discovery of an Exceptional Optical Nebulosity in the Suspected Galactic SN Iax Remnant Pa 30 Linked to the Historical Guest Star of 1181 CE |journal=The Astrophysical Journal Letters |volume=945 |issue=1 |pages=L4 |doi=10.3847/2041-8213/acbb67 | arxiv=2301.04809 |bibcode=2023ApJ...945L...4F |doi-access=free }}</ref>
So 3C 58 is not the remnant left behind by the 1181 supernova.

==See also==

*[[RX J1856.5−3754]], former [[quark star]] candidate

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*{{commonscat-inline}}
*[http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2004/3c58/ Article about 3C58]
*[http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/sim-id.pl?protocol=html&Ident=3c58&NbIdent=1&Radius=10&Radius.unit=arcmin&CooFrame=FK5&CooEpoch=2000&CooEqui=2000&output.max=all&o.catall=on&output.mesdisp=N&Bibyear1=1983&Bibyear2=2006&Frame1=FK5&Frame2=FK4&Frame3=G&Equi1=2000.0&Equi2=1950.0&Equi3=2000.0&Epoch1=2000.0&Epoch2=1950.0&Epoch3=2000.0 What is known about 3C 58]
*[http://aladin.u-strasbg.fr/java/nph-aladin.pl?script=get%20Aladin%2002%2005%2038%20%2B64%2049.7%3Bget%20Simbad%2002%2005%2038%20%2B64%2049.7%2011arcmin&from=Simbad Image from Aladin]


{{Sky|02|05|38.29|+|64|49|44.4|10000}}
{{Stars of Cassiopeia|state=collapsed}}

[[Category:Quark stars]]
[[Category:Pulsars]]
[[Category:3C objects|058]]
[[Category:Cassiopeia (constellation)]]