Pulsar
PSR J1614-2230
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 317 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 8.687 days orbit with a CO white dwarf. Period, spin-down, distance and orbit come from the ATNF Pulsar Catalogue; the beam geometry is illustrative.
| Type | Pulsar |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Scorpius |
| Period | 3.151 ms (317 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 9.6×10⁻²¹ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 5.2 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 1.8×10⁸ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.2×10³⁴ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 34.5 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 700 pc (2.3 thousand ly) |
| Companion | CO white dwarf (estimated), ~0.47 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 8.687 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.000001 |
| Discovery | 2006 · misc, FermiBlind, gbncc |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 16h 14m 36.5s |
| Declination (J2000) | −22° 30′ 31″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 67° N. South of latitude 67° 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 around 258 BC. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 41 million years.