Pulsar
PSR J0251+2606
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 393 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 4.86 h orbit with a very-low-mass companion. Period, spin-down, distance and orbit come from the ATNF Pulsar Catalogue; the beam geometry is illustrative.
| Type | Pulsar |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Aries |
| Period | 2.542 ms (393 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 7.6×10⁻²¹ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 5.3 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 1.4×10⁸ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.8×10³⁴ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 20.2 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 1,170 pc (3.8 thousand ly) |
| Companion | very-low-mass companion (estimated), ~0.028 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 4.86 h |
| Eccentricity | 0.000110 |
| Discovery | 2016 · FermiAssoc |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 2h 51m 02.5s |
| Declination (J2000) | +26° 06′ 10″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 64° S. North of latitude 64° N it never sets. It stands highest at midnight in November, the best time to observe it.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out around 1791 BC. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 68 million years.