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Pulsar

PSR J1326-4728O_P

Millisecond pulsar · in the globular cluster OmegaCen(NGC5139)

A millisecond pulsar spinning 162 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. Period, spin-down, distance and orbit come from the ATNF Pulsar Catalogue; the beam geometry is illustrative.

TypePulsar
ConstellationCentaurus
Period6.160 ms (162 Hz)
Dispersion measure94.3 pc/cm³
Distance5,707 pc (18.6 thousand ly)
Locationin the globular cluster OmegaCen(NGC5139)
Discovery2023 · meerkat_trapum
SourceATNF Pulsar Catalogue
Right ascension (J2000)13h 26m 48.0s
Declination (J2000)−47° 27′ 19″

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 19 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 330 million years.

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