Pulsar
PSR J1120-3618
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 180 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 5.660 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 | Centaurus |
| Period | 5.557 ms (180 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 9.4×10⁻²² s/s |
| Characteristic age | 94.1 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 7.3×10⁷ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 2.2×10³² erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 45.1 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 954 pc (3.1 thousand ly) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.22 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 5.660 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.000029 |
| Discovery | 2013 · FermiAssoc |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 11h 20m 23.4s |
| Declination (J2000) | −36° 19′ 40″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 54° N. South of latitude 54° 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 around 1087 BC. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 55 million years.