Pulsar
PSR J1312+0051
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 237 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 38.504 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 | Virgo |
| Period | 4.228 ms (237 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 1.8×10⁻²⁰ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 3.8 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 2.8×10⁸ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 9.2×10³³ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 15.3 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 1,465 pc (4.8 thousand ly) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.21 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 38.504 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.000238 |
| Discovery | 2016 · FermiAssoc, fast_gpps |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 13h 12m 46.6s |
| Declination (J2000) | +0° 51′ 00″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 89° S. 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 4,778 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 85 million years.