Pulsar
PSR J1641+3627F
Millisecond pulsar · in the globular cluster M13(NGC6205)
A millisecond pulsar spinning 333 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 1.378 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 | Hercules |
| Period | 3.004 ms (333 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 1.4×10⁻²⁰ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 3.4 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 2.1×10⁸ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 2.0×10³⁴ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 30.4 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 7,420 pc (24.2 thousand ly) |
| Location | in the globular cluster M13(NGC6205) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.16 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 1.378 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.000005 |
| Discovery | 2020 · misc |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 16h 41m 44.6s |
| Declination (J2000) | +36° 28′ 16″ |
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 24 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 429 million years.