We report the results of the spectral and timing analysis of observations of the Vela pulsar with the Chandra X-ray Observatory .
The spectrum shows no statistically significant spectral lines in the observed 0.25–8.0 keV band .
It consists of two distinct continuum components .
The softer component can be modeled as either a magnetic hydrogen atmosphere spectrum with kT _ { { eff } , \infty } = 59 \pm 3 eV , R _ { \infty } = 15.5 \pm 1.5 km , or a standard blackbody with kT _ { \infty } = 129 \pm 4 eV , R _ { \infty } = 2.1 \pm 0.2 km ( the radii are for a distance of 250 pc ) .
The harder component , modeled as a power-law spectrum , gives photon indices depending on the model adopted for the soft component : \gamma = 1.5 \pm 0.3 for the magnetic atmosphere soft component , and \gamma = 2.7 \pm 0.4 for the blackbody soft component .
Timing analysis shows three peaks in the pulse profile , separated by about 0.3 in phase .
Energy-resolved timing provides evidence for pulse profile variation with energy .
The higher energy ( E > 1.8 keV ) profile shows significantly higher pulsed fraction .