Pulsar
PSR J0925+6103
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 167 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 2.452 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 | Ursa Major |
| Period | 5.983 ms (167 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 1.6×10⁻²⁰ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 5.9 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 3.1×10⁸ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 3.0×10³³ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 21.6 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 1,976 pc (6.4 thousand ly) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.15 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 2.452 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.000006 |
| Discovery | 2023 · fast_crafts |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 9h 25m 17.5s |
| Declination (J2000) | +61° 03′ 04″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 29° S. North of latitude 29° N it never sets. It stands highest at midnight in February, the best time to observe it.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out 6,445 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 114 million years.