Pulsar
PSR J1125+7819
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 238 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 15.355 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 | Draco |
| Period | 4.202 ms (238 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 6.9×10⁻²¹ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 9.6 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 1.7×10⁸ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 3.7×10³³ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 12.0 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 903 pc (2.9 thousand ly) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.33 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 15.355 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.000013 |
| Discovery | 2014 · gbncc, lotaas |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 11h 25m 59.9s |
| Declination (J2000) | +78° 19′ 49″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 12° S. North of latitude 12° N it never sets.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out around 920 BC. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 52 million years.