Pulsar
PSR J1518+0204G
Millisecond pulsar · in the globular cluster M5(NGC5904)
A millisecond pulsar spinning 364 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 2.73 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 | 2.750 ms (364 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 1.2×10⁻²⁰ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 3.5 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 1.9×10⁸ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 2.4×10³⁴ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 29.4 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 7,565 pc (24.7 thousand ly) |
| Location | in the globular cluster M5(NGC5904) |
| Companion | very-low-mass companion (estimated), ~0.022 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 2.73 h |
| Discovery | 2023 · misc |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 15h 18m 28.7s |
| Declination (J2000) | +2° 05′ 15″ |
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 25 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 438 million years.