Pulsar
PSR J0824+0028
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 101 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 23.207 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 | Hydra |
| Period | 9.861 ms (101 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 1.5×10⁻¹⁹ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 1.1 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 1.2×10⁹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 6.0×10³³ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 34.5 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 1,688 pc (5.5 thousand ly) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.40 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 23.207 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.000231 |
| Discovery | 2013 · ar327 |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 8h 24m 24.8s |
| Declination (J2000) | +0° 28′ 00″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 90° N. It stands highest at midnight in January, the best time to observe it.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out 5,506 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 98 million years.