Pulsar
PSR J0514-4002I
Radio pulsar · in the globular cluster NGC1851
A neutron star spinning once every 0.033 seconds; the beams from its magnetic poles sweep across Earth on every turn. It shares a 23.64 h 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 | Columba |
| Period | 32.654 ms (31 Hz) |
| Dispersion measure | 52.6 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 11,950 pc (39.0 thousand ly) |
| Location | in the globular cluster NGC1851 |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.17 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 23.64 h |
| Eccentricity | 0.0098 |
| Discovery | 2022 · meerkat_trapum |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 5h 14m 06.7s |
| Declination (J2000) | −40° 02′ 48″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 50° N. South of latitude 50° S it never sets. 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 39 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 691 million years.