Pulsar
PSR J1712-1920
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 552 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 4.40 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 | Ophiuchus |
| Period | 1.811 ms (552 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 9.9×10⁻²¹ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 2.9 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 1.4×10⁸ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 6.6×10³⁴ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 49.4 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 1,615 pc (5.3 thousand ly) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.25 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 4.40 h |
| Eccentricity | 0.000006 |
| Discovery | 2026 · meerkat_trapum |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 17h 12m 01.4s |
| Declination (J2000) | −19° 20′ 24″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 71° N. South of latitude 71° 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 5,267 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 93 million years.