Pulsar
PSR J1547-5709
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 233 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 3.077 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 | 4.291 ms (233 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 7.5×10⁻²¹ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 9.1 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 1.8×10⁸ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 3.7×10³³ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 95.7 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 2,695 pc (8.8 thousand ly) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.20 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 3.077 days |
| Discovery | 2020 · htru_pks |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 15h 47m 24.1s |
| Declination (J2000) | −57° 09′ 18″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 33° N. South of latitude 33° 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 8,790 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 156 million years.