Pulsar
PSR J1617-2258A
Millisecond pulsar · in the globular cluster NGC6093(M80)
A millisecond pulsar spinning 232 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 18.94 h 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 | Scorpius |
| Period | 4.318 ms (232 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 6.1×10⁻²⁰ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 1.1 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 5.2×10⁸ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 3.0×10³⁴ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 66.8 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 5,720 pc (18.7 thousand ly) |
| Location | in the globular cluster NGC6093(M80) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.082 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 18.94 h |
| Eccentricity | 0.5374 |
| Discovery | 2025 · gcgps |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 16h 17m 02.8s |
| Declination (J2000) | −22° 58′ 37″ |
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 19 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 331 million years.