Pulsar
PSR J1526-2744
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 402 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. Its radio beams do not sweep across Earth; its pulses are seen only in X-rays or gamma rays. It shares a 4.87 h 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 | Libra |
| Period | 2.489 ms (402 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 3.5×10⁻²¹ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 11.1 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 9.5×10⁷ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 9.1×10³³ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 31.0 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 1,321 pc (4.3 thousand ly) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.098 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 4.87 h |
| Discovery | 2023 · meerkat_trapum, FermiBlind |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 15h 26m 45.1s |
| Declination (J2000) | −27° 44′ 06″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 62° N. South of latitude 62° 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 4,309 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 76 million years.