Pulsar
PSR J1056-7117
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 38 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 9.139 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 | 26.310 ms (38 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 6.3×10⁻²⁰ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 6.6 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 1.3×10⁹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.4×10³² erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 92.9 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 1,689 pc (5.5 thousand ly) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.15 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 9.139 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.000013 |
| Discovery | 2014 · htru_pks |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 10h 56m 46.0s |
| Declination (J2000) | −71° 17′ 54″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 19° N. South of latitude 19° S 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 5,509 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 98 million years.