Pulsar
PSR J1720-0533
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 306 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 3.16 h orbit with a very-low-mass companion. Period, spin-down, distance and orbit come from the ATNF Pulsar Catalogue; the beam geometry is illustrative.
| Type | Pulsar |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Ophiuchus |
| Period | 3.268 ms (306 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 8.2×10⁻²¹ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 6.3 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 1.7×10⁸ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 9.2×10³³ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 36.8 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 191 pc (623.0 ly) |
| Companion | very-low-mass companion (estimated), ~0.034 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 3.16 h |
| Eccentricity | 0.000044 |
| Discovery | 2021 · fast_crafts |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 17h 20m 54.5s |
| Declination (J2000) | −5° 34′ 24″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 84° N. 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 the year 1403. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 11 million years.