Pulsar
PSR J1713+0747
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 219 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 67.825 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 | Ophiuchus |
| Period | 4.570 ms (219 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 8.5×10⁻²¹ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 8.5 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 2.0×10⁸ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 3.5×10³³ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 16.0 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 1,136 pc (3.7 thousand ly) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.32 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 67.825 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.000075 |
| Discovery | 1993 · ar4, FermiBlind, pkssw |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 17h 13m 49.5s |
| Declination (J2000) | +7° 47′ 37″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 82° S. 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 around 1680 BC. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 66 million years.