Pulsar
PSR J1708-3506
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 222 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 149 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 | Scorpius |
| Period | 4.505 ms (222 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 1.1×10⁻²⁰ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 6.3 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 2.3×10⁸ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 4.9×10³³ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 146.8 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 3,319 pc (10.8 thousand ly) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.19 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 149 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.000245 |
| Discovery | 2010 · htru_pks |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 17h 08m 17.6s |
| Declination (J2000) | −35° 06′ 23″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 55° N. South of latitude 55° S it never sets. It stands highest at midnight in June, the best time to observe it.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out 11 thousand 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 192 million years.