Pulsar
PSR J1435-6100
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 107 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 1.355 days orbit with a CO white dwarf. Period, spin-down, distance and orbit come from the ATNF Pulsar Catalogue; the beam geometry is illustrative.
| Type | Pulsar |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Centaurus |
| Period | 9.348 ms (107 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 2.4×10⁻²⁰ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 6.1 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 4.8×10⁸ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.2×10³³ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 113.8 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 2,817 pc (9.2 thousand ly) |
| Companion | CO white dwarf (estimated), ~1.08 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 1.355 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.000011 |
| Discovery | 2001 · pksmb, htru_pks |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 14h 35m 20.3s |
| Declination (J2000) | −61° 00′ 58″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 29° N. South of latitude 29° 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 9,188 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 163 million years.