Pulsar
PSR J0641+0448
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 39 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 3.731 days orbit with a neutron star. Period, spin-down, distance and orbit come from the ATNF Pulsar Catalogue; the beam geometry is illustrative.
| Type | Pulsar |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Monoceros |
| Period | 25.678 ms (39 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 6.6×10⁻²⁰ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 6.2 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 1.3×10⁹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.5×10³² erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 155.2 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 2,575 pc (8.4 thousand ly) |
| Companion | neutron star (estimated), ~1.56 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 3.731 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.1455 |
| Discovery | 2026 · misc |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 6h 41m 34.4s |
| Declination (J2000) | +4° 48′ 10″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 85° 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 8,399 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 149 million years.