Neutron Star Astronomy at ESO: the VLT decade

Abstract

Forty years have gone by since the optical identification of the Crab pulsar (PSR B0531+21), and 25 isolated neutron stars of different types have been now identified. Observations with ESO telescopes historically played a pivotal role in the optical studies of INSs, first with the 3.6m telescope and the New Technology Telescope (NTT), at the La Silla Observatory, and after 1998 with the Very Large Telescope (VLT), at the Paranal Observatory. In this review I summarise some of the most important results obtained in ten years of VLT observations of isolated neutron stars.