Until the discovery of PSR J1748-2446ad in 2006, which spins 716 times per second, PSR B1937+21 was the fastest spinning neutron star known.
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PSR 1257+12, pulsar around which the first extrasolar planets were discovered in 1992.
The pulsar designated PSR J1939+2134 was the fastest known for more than two decades.
PSR 1913+16 has a companion neutron star with which it is locked in a tight orbit.
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PSR 1257+12 itself was discovered in 1991 in the constellation Virgo by astronomers using the radio telescope at Arecibo Observatory.
Variations in the arrival times of PSR 1257+12's radio pulses disclosed the presence of three planets.
The bleeps from this pulsar, known as PSR J2222-0137, aren't absolutely regular; they speed up and slow down with a regular rhythm, which told Kaplan and his colleagues that something was orbiting it.
Until 1992, with the discovery of a pair of planets orbiting the memorably named PSR B1257+12, a pulsar a thousand light years away, all the planets whose existence we were certain of resided in our solar system.
The gravitational tug from that something was pulling PSR J2222-0137 slightowardward the Earth, then slightly away, then toward again, forcing the beeps to pile up on each other, then pull back, and so on.
