Pulsar
PSR J1518+0204C
Millisecond pulsar · in the globular cluster M5(NGC5904)
A millisecond pulsar spinning 403 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 2.08 h orbit with a very-low-mass companion. Period, spin-down, distance and orbit come from the ATNF Pulsar Catalogue; the beam geometry is illustrative.
| Type | Pulsar |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Serpens |
| Period | 2.484 ms (403 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 2.6×10⁻²⁰ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 1.5 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 2.6×10⁸ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 6.7×10³⁴ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 29.3 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 7,480 pc (24.4 thousand ly) |
| Location | in the globular cluster M5(NGC5904) |
| Companion | very-low-mass companion (estimated), ~0.043 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 2.08 h |
| Discovery | 2007 · misc |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 15h 18m 32.8s |
| Declination (J2000) | +2° 04′ 48″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 88° S. 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 24 thousand years ago. At that time Homo sapiens was spreading out of Africa; there was no farming yet. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 433 million years.