Astronomers have made a significant discovery using the MeerKAT radio telescope by observing eclipses in the radio emission of a pulsar called PSR J0024-7204O, also known as 47 Tuc O. The pulsar is classified as a black widow millisecond pulsar, located in the globular cluster 47 Tucanae. Researchers from the Cagliari Observatory in Italy led by Federico Abbate conducted a 17-hour observation campaign of PSR J0024-7204O, focusing on its eclipses and their variability across multiple orbits.

The study, recently published on the preprint server arXiv, sheds light on the behavior of black widow pulsars, which are extreme binary pulsars with low-mass companion stars. PSR J0024-7204O has a rapid spin period of 2.64 milliseconds and an orbital period of 3.26 hours. The observation revealed variations in the dispersion measure excess of the pulsar during its eclipses, indicating a higher gas density within the eclipsing region compared to surrounding orbital phases.

MeerKAT observations also identified significant scattering during both the ingress and egress stages of the eclipses, suggesting that scattering might be the primary mechanism causing the eclipses in close proximity to these regions. Additionally, researchers noted a sharp drop in polarization and a slight increase in rotation measure during the transition stages, indicating the presence of a magnetic field around 2.0 mG in the pulsar.

The duration of the eclipses of PSR J0024-7204O was found to be similar to that of other black widow pulsars, with the maximum dispersion measure excess comparable to other eclipsing pulsars observed in a similar frequency range. This detailed study of consecutive eclipses provides valuable insights into the nature and properties of this intriguing black widow pulsar in the 47 Tucanae cluster.