Pulsar
PSR J1227-4853
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 593 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 6.91 h 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 | 1.686 ms (593 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 1.1×10⁻²⁰ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 2.4 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 1.4×10⁸ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 9.1×10³⁴ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 43.4 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 1,613 pc (5.3 thousand ly) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.25 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 6.91 h |
| Discovery | 2015 · misc |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 12h 27m 58.7s |
| Declination (J2000) | −48° 53′ 43″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 41° N. South of latitude 41° 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 5,261 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 93 million years.