Pulsar
PSR J0520+3722_P
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 126 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 13.91 h 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 | Auriga |
| Period | 7.920 ms (126 Hz) |
| Dispersion measure | 89.0 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 1,730 pc (5.6 thousand ly) |
| Companion | CO white dwarf (estimated), ~1.02 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 13.91 h |
| Eccentricity | 0.000001 |
| Discovery | 2025 · fast_gpps |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 5h 20m 13.5s |
| Declination (J2000) | +37° 22′ 00″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 53° S. North of latitude 53° N 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 5,643 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 100 million years.