Pulsar
PSR J0407+1607
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 39 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 669 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 | Taurus |
| Period | 25.702 ms (39 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 7.9×10⁻²⁰ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 5.2 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 1.4×10⁹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.8×10³² erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 35.6 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 1,337 pc (4.4 thousand ly) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.22 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 669 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.000937 |
| Discovery | 2005 · ar4, ar327, lotaas |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 4h 07m 54.9s |
| Declination (J2000) | +16° 07′ 16″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 74° S. North of latitude 74° 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 4,361 years ago. At that time the first farming villages were being founded; there was no writing yet. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 77 million years.