Pulsar
PSR J1312+1810B
Millisecond pulsar · in the globular cluster M53(NGC5024)
A millisecond pulsar spinning 160 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 47.677 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 | Coma Berenices |
| Period | 6.242 ms (160 Hz) |
| Dispersion measure | 26.0 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 18,050 pc (58.9 thousand ly) |
| Location | in the globular cluster M53(NGC5024) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.28 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 47.677 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.0132 |
| Discovery | 2021 · fast_crafts |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 13h 12m 54.7s |
| Declination (J2000) | +18° 10′ 03″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 72° S. North of latitude 72° N 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 59 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 1.0 billion years.