Pulsar
PSR J1641+3627I
Millisecond pulsar · in the globular cluster M13
A millisecond pulsar spinning 157 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 18.234 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 | Hercules |
| Period | 6.375 ms (157 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 2.3×10⁻¹⁸ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 45 million years |
| Magnetic field | 3.9×10⁹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 3.5×10³⁵ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 29.6 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 4,965 pc (16.2 thousand ly) |
| Location | in the globular cluster M13 |
| Companion | CO white dwarf (estimated), ~0.54 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 18.234 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.0644 |
| Discovery | 2025 · fast_gcps |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 16h 41m 42.0s |
| Declination (J2000) | +36° 27′ 36″ |
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 16 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 287 million years.