PSR-1509-58 AND ITS PLERIONIC ENVIRONMENT

ROSAT Position Sensitive Proportional Counter observations of PSR 1509-58 in the supernova remnant MSH 15-52 confirm the presence of a compact nebula around the pulsar with an average radius of similar to 50 '' at energies between 0.7 and 1.5 keV. The radius decreases to similar to 30 '' between 1.5 and 1.8 keV, and at higher energies it appears to be absent. Spectral analysis of the compact nebula reveals that its emission is softer than the emission from the pulsar. The pulsar has a pulsed fraction that is relatively constant over the ROSAT band with an average value of 56% +/- 10%. The pulse shape remains relatively stable over the ROSAT range with exceptions at the highest and lowest energies, where the photon statistics are poorest. The arrival phase of the X-ray pulse is constant over the ROSAT energy range, but a comparison to radio, higher energy X-ray, and gamma-ray observations shows a trend of greater separation from the radio peak in pulse arrival phase at higher energies. Confining the power-law photon index for the pulsed spectrum to the values allowed from spectral fits to EXOSAT, Ginga, and SIGMA data (-1.4 to -0.3), we determine that N-H approximate to 9.5 x 10(21) cm(-2) and the flux in the 0.1-2.4 keV energy range similar to 6 x 10(-12) ergs cm(-2) s(-1).