HST observations of middle aged isolated neutron stars

Abstract

We report the results of recent HST observations of three Middle Aged Isolated Neutron Stars i.e. PSR1055-52, Geminga and PSR0656+14. For PSR1055-52, a probable optical counterpart has been identified with the FOC. For PSR0656+14, WFPC2 imaging provided a clear detection of the proposed optical counterpart and was used to obtain a tentative measure of its proper motion. For Geminga, new FOC colors lead to a better characterization of the source spectral shape. The results are also discussed in the general framework of the optical emission of Middle Aged Isolated Neutron Stars (MINS).