Pulsar
PSR J0613-0200
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 327 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 1.199 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 | 3.062 ms (327 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 9.6×10⁻²¹ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 5.1 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 1.7×10⁸ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.3×10³⁴ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 38.8 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 780 pc (2.5 thousand ly) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.15 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 1.199 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.000005 |
| Discovery | 1995 · pks70, FermiBlind, gbncc |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 6h 13m 44.0s |
| Declination (J2000) | −2° 00′ 47″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 88° N. 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 519 BC. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 45 million years.