Pulsar
PSR J0955-6150
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 500 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 24.578 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 | Carina |
| Period | 1.999 ms (500 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 1.4×10⁻²⁰ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 2.2 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 1.7×10⁸ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 7.0×10³⁴ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 160.9 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 2,173 pc (7.1 thousand ly) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.26 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 24.578 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.1175 |
| Discovery | 2015 · FermiAssoc |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 9h 55m 20.9s |
| Declination (J2000) | −61° 50′ 17″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 28° N. South of latitude 28° 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 7,087 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 126 million years.