Pulsar
PSR J1325-6253
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 35 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 1.816 days orbit with a neutron star. Period, spin-down, distance and orbit come from the ATNF Pulsar Catalogue; the beam geometry is illustrative.
| Type | Pulsar |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Centaurus |
| Period | 28.969 ms (35 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 4.8×10⁻²⁰ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 9.6 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 1.2×10⁹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 7.8×10³¹ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 303.3 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 6,395 pc (20.9 thousand ly) |
| Companion | neutron star (estimated), ~1.09 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 1.816 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.0640 |
| Discovery | 2022 · htru_pks |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 13h 25m 04.9s |
| Declination (J2000) | −62° 53′ 39″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 27° N. South of latitude 27° 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 21 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 370 million years.