Pulsar
PSR J1431-4715
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 497 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 10.79 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 | Lupus |
| Period | 2.012 ms (497 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 1.4×10⁻²⁰ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 2.3 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 1.7×10⁸ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 6.8×10³⁴ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 59.3 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 1,562 pc (5.1 thousand ly) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.15 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 10.79 h |
| Eccentricity | 0.000023 |
| Discovery | 2015 · htru_pks, FermiAssoc |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 14h 31m 44.6s |
| Declination (J2000) | −47° 15′ 28″ |
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 5,095 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 90 million years.