Pulsar
PSR J1048+2339
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 214 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 6.01 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 | Leo Minor |
| Period | 4.665 ms (214 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 3.0×10⁻²⁰ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 2.5 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 3.8×10⁸ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.2×10³⁴ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 16.7 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 2,002 pc (6.5 thousand ly) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.36 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 6.01 h |
| Discovery | 2016 · FermiAssoc |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 10h 48m 43.4s |
| Declination (J2000) | +23° 39′ 53″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 66° S. North of latitude 66° N it never sets. It stands highest at midnight in March, the best time to observe it.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out 6,530 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 116 million years.