Pulsar
PSR J1421-4409
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 157 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 30.747 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 | Lupus |
| Period | 6.386 ms (157 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 1.2×10⁻²⁰ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 8.2 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 2.8×10⁸ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.9×10³³ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 54.6 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 2,084 pc (6.8 thousand ly) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.21 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 30.747 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.000013 |
| Discovery | 2018 · pks_superb |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 14h 21m 21.0s |
| Declination (J2000) | −44° 09′ 05″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 46° N. South of latitude 46° 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 6,797 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 121 million years.