Pulsar
PSR J1302-3258
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 265 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 18.83 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 | 3.771 ms (265 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 6.5×10⁻²¹ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 9.1 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 1.6×10⁸ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 4.8×10³³ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 26.2 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 1,431 pc (4.7 thousand ly) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.17 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 18.83 h |
| Eccentricity | 0.000032 |
| Discovery | 2011 · FermiAssoc, gbt350 |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 13h 02m 25.5s |
| Declination (J2000) | −32° 58′ 37″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 57° N. South of latitude 57° S it never sets. It stands highest at midnight in April, the best time to observe it.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out 4,667 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 83 million years.