Pulsar
PSR J1311-3430
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 391 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 1.56 h orbit with a very-low-mass companion. Period, spin-down, distance and orbit come from the ATNF Pulsar Catalogue; the beam geometry is illustrative.
| Type | Pulsar |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Centaurus |
| Period | 2.560 ms (391 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 2.1×10⁻²⁰ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 1.9 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 2.3×10⁸ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 4.9×10³⁴ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 37.8 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 2,430 pc (7.9 thousand ly) |
| Companion | very-low-mass companion (estimated), ~0.009 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 1.56 h |
| Discovery | 2012 · FermiBlind |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 13h 11m 45.7s |
| Declination (J2000) | −34° 30′ 30″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 55° N. South of latitude 55° 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 7,926 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 141 million years.