Pulsar
PSR J1518+0204E
Millisecond pulsar · in the globular cluster M5(NGC5904)
A millisecond pulsar spinning 314 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 1.097 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 | Serpens |
| Period | 3.182 ms (314 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 1.8×10⁻²⁰ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 2.8 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 2.4×10⁸ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 2.2×10³⁴ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 29.3 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 7,480 pc (24.4 thousand ly) |
| Location | in the globular cluster M5(NGC5904) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.17 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 1.097 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.7900 |
| Discovery | 2007 · misc |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 15h 18m 33.3s |
| Declination (J2000) | +2° 04′ 38″ |
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.