I was reading about PSR J0737-3039 - a binary pair of stars thought to be neutron stars - and I came across this table in Wikipedia:
Property..........................Pulsar A.............................Pulsar B
Spin period...................23 milliseconds..................2.8 seconds
Mass..........................1.337 solar masses..........1.250 solar masses
Orbital period 2.4 hours
(ref. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PSR_J07...double_pulsars )
I was wondering what effect frame dragging would have on this system. Do they appear to a distant observer (us) to be orbiting each other faster than their masses would otherwise indicate if they weren't rotating at such high rates?
I ask this because both components are massive, compact, have high spin rates (especially pulsar A) and are very close to each other (~about 800,000 km according to a related article here: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/news/...tml?page=1&c=y )
For those doubting Thomases out there, the last cited article claims that this system confirms four different aspects of General Relativity.
Chris
Edited to correct spelling error