Pulsar
PSR B1639+36B (J1641+3627B)
Millisecond pulsar · in the globular cluster M13(NGC6205)
A millisecond pulsar spinning 283 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 1.259 days orbit with a helium white dwarf. Period, spin-down, distance and orbit come from the ATNF Pulsar Catalogue; the beam geometry is illustrative.
| Type | Pulsar |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Hercules |
| Period | 3.528 ms (283 Hz) |
| Dispersion measure | 29.4 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 7,420 pc (24.2 thousand ly) |
| Location | in the globular cluster M13(NGC6205) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.19 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 1.259 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.000003 |
| Discovery | 1992 · misc |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 16h 41m 40.4s |
| Declination (J2000) | +36° 25′ 58″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 54° S. North of latitude 54° N it never sets. It stands highest at midnight in May, the best time to observe it.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out 24 thousand years ago. At that time Homo sapiens was spreading out of Africa; there was no farming yet. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 429 million years.