Pulsar
PSR J0955-3947
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 494 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 9.30 h 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 | Antlia |
| Period | 2.023 ms (494 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 3.8×10⁻²⁰ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 840 million years |
| Magnetic field | 2.8×10⁸ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.8×10³⁵ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 130.7 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 488 pc (1.6 thousand ly) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.35 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 9.30 h |
| Discovery | 2024 · meerkat_trapum |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 9h 55m 27.8s |
| Declination (J2000) | −39° 47′ 52″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 50° N. South of latitude 50° S 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 around the year 434. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 28 million years.