Pulsar
PSR J1529-3828
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 118 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 120 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 | 8.486 ms (118 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 2.7×10⁻²⁰ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 5.0 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 4.8×10⁸ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.7×10³³ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 73.7 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 4,301 pc (14.0 thousand ly) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.19 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 120 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.000169 |
| Discovery | 2014 · htru_pks, gbncc |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 15h 29m 15.1s |
| Declination (J2000) | −38° 28′ 46″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 52° N. South of latitude 52° 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 14 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 249 million years.