PSR B1257+12

<a href="/facts/Celestial_coordinate_system/23HhqvHj">Coordinates</a>:  <a href="http://www.wikisky.org/?ra=13.000277777778&de=12.6825&zoom=4&show_grid=1&show_constellation_lines=1&show_constellation_boundaries=1&show_const_names=1&show_galaxies=1&img_source=IMG_all">13h 00m 01s, +12° 40′ 57″</a>

<p>PSR B1257+12, previously designated PSR 1257+12, alternatively designated PSR J1300+1240, is a millisecond <a href="/facts/Pulsar/f8c7S5LQ">pulsar</a>, 2,300 <a href="/facts/Light-year/IGc5NdQb">light-years</a> (710 <a href="/facts/Parsec/SwSsk57J">parsecs</a>) from the <a href="/facts/Sun/CadPCVHh">Sun</a>, in the <a href="/facts/Constellation/nBQqgW8A">constellation</a> <a href="/facts/Virgo_(constellation)/4bcIqNfd">Virgo</a>, rotating at about 161 times per second (faster than the blade of a blender). It is also named Lich, after <a href="/facts/Lich/RuRo0lhP">a powerful, fictional undead creature</a>.
</p><p>The pulsar has a <a href="/facts/Planetary_system/6mcVtrTC">planetary system</a> with three known <a href="/facts/Pulsar_planet/1x7cXV3T">pulsar planets</a>, named "Draugr" (PSR B1257+12 b or <a href="/facts/PSR_B1257%2B12_A/PnNsDcLT">PSR B1257+12 A</a>), "Poltergeist" (PSR B1257+12 c, or <a href="/facts/PSR_B1257%2B12_B/18hTpUY0">PSR B1257+12 B</a>), and "Phobetor" (PSR B1257+12 d, or <a href="/facts/PSR_B1257%2B12_C/2mQwT13m">PSR B1257+12 C</a>). They were both the first <a href="/facts/Extrasolar_planet/zjfmqfUf">extrasolar planets</a> to be discovered and the first pulsar planets to be discovered—B and C in 1992 and A in 1994. A is the lowest-mass planet yet discovered by any observational technique, having somewhat less than twice the mass of <a href="/facts/Moon/zKHqEMPb">Earth's moon</a>.
</p>

PSR B1257+12 open-in-new

PSR B1257+12