Pulsar
PSR J1017-7156
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 428 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 6.512 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 | 2.339 ms (428 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 2.2×10⁻²¹ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 16.7 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 7.3×10⁷ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 6.8×10³³ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 94.2 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 1,807 pc (5.9 thousand ly) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.22 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 6.512 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.000142 |
| Discovery | 2012 · htru_pks |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 10h 17m 51.3s |
| Declination (J2000) | −71° 56′ 42″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 18° N. South of latitude 18° 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 5,894 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 105 million years.