Pulsar
PSR J1208-5936
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 35 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 15.16 h orbit with a neutron star. Period, spin-down, distance and orbit come from the ATNF Pulsar Catalogue; the beam geometry is illustrative.
| Type | Pulsar |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Crux |
| Period | 28.714 ms (35 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 3.0×10⁻²⁰ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 15.3 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 9.3×10⁸ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 4.9×10³¹ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 344.4 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 8,463 pc (27.6 thousand ly) |
| Companion | neutron star (estimated), ~1.31 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 15.16 h |
| Eccentricity | 0.3480 |
| Discovery | 2023 · mmgps-l |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 12h 08m 27.0s |
| Declination (J2000) | −59° 36′ 21″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 30° N. South of latitude 30° 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 28 thousand years ago. At that time Homo sapiens was spreading out of Africa; there was no farming yet. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 490 million years.