Pulsar
PSR J1342+2822B
Millisecond pulsar · in the globular cluster M3(NGC5272)
A millisecond pulsar spinning 419 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 1.417 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 | Canes Venatici |
| Period | 2.389 ms (419 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 1.9×10⁻²⁰ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 2.0 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 2.1×10⁸ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 5.4×10³⁴ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 26.2 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 10,180 pc (33.2 thousand ly) |
| Location | in the globular cluster M3(NGC5272) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.24 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 1.417 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.000004 |
| Discovery | 2007 · misc |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 13h 42m 11.1s |
| Declination (J2000) | +28° 22′ 40″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 62° S. North of latitude 62° 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 33 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 589 million years.