Pulsar
PSR J1628-3205
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 311 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 5.04 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 | 3.212 ms (311 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 1.2×10⁻²⁰ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 4.3 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 2.0×10⁸ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.4×10³⁴ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 42.2 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 1,227 pc (4.0 thousand ly) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.18 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 5.04 h |
| Discovery | 2012 · FermiAssoc |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 16h 28m 07.0s |
| Declination (J2000) | −32° 05′ 49″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 58° N. South of latitude 58° 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 4,002 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 71 million years.