Pulsar
PSR J1630+3550
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 310 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 7.58 h orbit with a very-low-mass companion. Period, spin-down, distance and orbit come from the ATNF Pulsar Catalogue; the beam geometry is illustrative.
| Type | Pulsar |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Hercules |
| Period | 3.229 ms (310 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 2.3×10⁻²⁰ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 2.3 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 2.7×10⁸ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 2.6×10³⁴ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 17.5 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 1,567 pc (5.1 thousand ly) |
| Companion | very-low-mass companion (estimated), ~0.011 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 7.58 h |
| Eccentricity | 0.000420 |
| Discovery | 2013 · ar327, tulipp |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 16h 30m 36.0s |
| Declination (J2000) | +35° 50′ 42″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 54° S. North of latitude 54° N 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 5,111 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 91 million years.