Pulsar
PSR J0214+5222
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 41 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 512 days orbit with a CO white dwarf. Period, spin-down, distance and orbit come from the ATNF Pulsar Catalogue; the beam geometry is illustrative.
| Type | Pulsar |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Perseus |
| Period | 24.575 ms (41 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 3.0×10⁻¹⁹ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 1.3 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 2.7×10⁹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 7.9×10³² erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 22.0 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 1,161 pc (3.8 thousand ly) |
| Companion | CO white dwarf (estimated), ~0.48 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 512 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.0053 |
| Discovery | 2014 · gbncc, lotaas |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 2h 14m 55.3s |
| Declination (J2000) | +52° 22′ 41″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 38° S. North of latitude 38° N it never sets. It stands highest at midnight in October, the best time to observe it.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out around 1762 BC. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 67 million years.