Pulsar
PSR J0621+1002
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 35 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 8.319 days 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 | Orion |
| Period | 28.854 ms (35 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 4.7×10⁻²⁰ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 9.7 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 1.2×10⁹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 7.8×10³¹ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 36.6 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 1,351 pc (4.4 thousand ly) |
| Companion | CO white dwarf (estimated), ~0.53 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 8.319 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.0025 |
| Discovery | 1996 · misc, lotaas, palfa |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 6h 21m 22.1s |
| Declination (J2000) | +10° 02′ 39″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 80° S. North of latitude 80° 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 4,406 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 78 million years.