Discovery of a very bright, nearby binary millisecond pulsar

The pulsar PSR J0437-4715 was first recorded on Feb 13, 1992, and confirmed on Jul 11 as possibly the closest pulsar to the Earth during a survey for millisecond pulsars in the southern sky. A possible optical companion has been determined because of no other stars are close to the radio signal. This pulsar can be used to confirm or deny the theory that millisecond pulsars generate gamma rays and contribute to the galactic gamma ray background.