Pulsar
PSR J0509+0856
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 247 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 4.908 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 | Orion |
| Period | 4.056 ms (247 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 4.4×10⁻²¹ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 14.6 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 1.4×10⁸ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 2.6×10³³ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 38.3 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 817 pc (2.7 thousand ly) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.13 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 4.908 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.000022 |
| Discovery | 2019 · ar327 |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 5h 09m 22.2s |
| Declination (J2000) | +8° 56′ 25″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 81° S. It stands highest at midnight in December, the best time to observe it.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out around 640 BC. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 47 million years.