Pulsar
PSR J1717+4308B
Millisecond pulsar · in the globular cluster M92(NGC6341)
A millisecond pulsar spinning 285 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 2.294 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 | Hercules |
| Period | 3.511 ms (285 Hz) |
| Dispersion measure | 35.3 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 25,000 pc (81.5 thousand ly) |
| Location | in the globular cluster M92(NGC6341) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.24 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 2.294 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.000483 |
| Discovery | 2026 · misc |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 17h 17m 07.2s |
| Declination (J2000) | +43° 08′ 08″ |
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 82 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 1.4 billion years.