Pulsar
PSR J1125-5825
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 322 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 76.403 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 | 3.102 ms (322 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 6.1×10⁻²⁰ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 807 million years |
| Magnetic field | 4.4×10⁸ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 8.1×10³⁴ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 124.8 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 1,744 pc (5.7 thousand ly) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.31 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 76.403 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.000257 |
| Discovery | 2010 · htru_pks, FermiBlind |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 11h 25m 44.4s |
| Declination (J2000) | −58° 25′ 17″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 32° N. South of latitude 32° 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 5,688 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 101 million years.