Pulsar
PSR J0828+5304
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 74 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 5.899 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 | Lynx |
| Period | 13.527 ms (74 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 2.6×10⁻²⁰ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 8.3 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 6.0×10⁸ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 4.1×10³² erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 23.1 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 1,579 pc (5.2 thousand ly) |
| Companion | CO white dwarf (estimated), ~0.79 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 5.899 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.000003 |
| Discovery | 2023 · lotaas |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 8h 28m 25.7s |
| Declination (J2000) | +53° 04′ 43″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 37° S. North of latitude 37° N it never sets. 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 5,150 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 91 million years.