Pulsar
PSR J1717+4308A
Millisecond pulsar · in the globular cluster NGC6341(M92)
A millisecond pulsar spinning 316 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 4.82 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 | Hercules |
| Period | 3.160 ms (316 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 6.1×10⁻²⁰ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 818 million years |
| Magnetic field | 4.5×10⁸ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 7.7×10³⁴ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 35.4 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 8,500 pc (27.7 thousand ly) |
| Location | in the globular cluster NGC6341(M92) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.18 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 4.82 h |
| Discovery | 2020 · fast_crafts, fast_gcps |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 17h 17m 06.5s |
| Declination (J2000) | +43° 08′ 03″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 47° S. North of latitude 47° N 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 28 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 492 million years.