Pulsar
PSR J1545-4550
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 280 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 6.203 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 | 3.575 ms (280 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 5.2×10⁻²⁰ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 1.1 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 4.4×10⁸ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 4.5×10³⁴ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 68.4 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 2,222 pc (7.2 thousand ly) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.18 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 6.203 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.000013 |
| Discovery | 2013 · htru_pks |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 15h 45m 55.9s |
| Declination (J2000) | −45° 50′ 38″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 44° N. South of latitude 44° 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 7,247 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 129 million years.