Pulsar
PSR J1537-5312
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 144 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 3.550 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 | Norma |
| Period | 6.927 ms (144 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 1.6×10⁻²⁰ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 6.9 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 3.4×10⁸ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.9×10³³ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 117.7 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 3,056 pc (10.0 thousand ly) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.13 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 3.550 days |
| Discovery | 2020 · htru_pks |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 15h 37m 37.7s |
| Declination (J2000) | −53° 12′ 25″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 37° N. South of latitude 37° 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 9,967 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 177 million years.