Pulsar
PSR J1326-4728B
Millisecond pulsar · in the globular cluster OmegaCen(NGC5139)
A millisecond pulsar spinning 209 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 2.15 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 | 4.792 ms (209 Hz) |
| Dispersion measure | 100.3 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 5,430 pc (17.7 thousand ly) |
| Location | in the globular cluster OmegaCen(NGC5139) |
| Companion | very-low-mass companion (estimated), ~0.016 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 2.15 h |
| Eccentricity | 0.000400 |
| Discovery | 2020 · misc |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 13h 26m 49.6s |
| Declination (J2000) | −47° 29′ 25″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 43° N. South of latitude 43° 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 18 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 314 million years.