Pulsar
PSR J1346-2610
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 361 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 3.79 h 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 | Hydra |
| Period | 2.768 ms (361 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 5.4×10⁻²¹ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 8.2 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 1.2×10⁸ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.0×10³⁴ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 20.1 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 1,243 pc (4.1 thousand ly) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.17 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 3.79 h |
| Discovery | 2026 · meerkat_trapum |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 13h 46m 03.0s |
| Declination (J2000) | −26° 10′ 19″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 64° N. South of latitude 64° 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 4,054 years ago. At that time the first farming villages were being founded; there was no writing yet. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 72 million years.