Pulsar
PSR J1514-4946
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 279 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 1.923 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 | 3.589 ms (279 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 1.9×10⁻²⁰ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 3.1 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 2.6×10⁸ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.6×10³⁴ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 31.0 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 908 pc (3.0 thousand ly) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.20 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 1.923 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.000011 |
| Discovery | 2012 · FermiAssoc |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 15h 14m 19.1s |
| Declination (J2000) | −49° 46′ 16″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 40° N. South of latitude 40° S it never sets. It stands highest at midnight in May, the best time to observe it.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out around 937 BC. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 53 million years.