Pulsar
PSR J1727-2951
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 35 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 9.48 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 | 28.405 ms (35 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 3.1×10⁻¹⁹ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 1.5 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 3.0×10⁹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 5.3×10³² erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 215.1 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 5,414 pc (17.7 thousand ly) |
| Companion | very-low-mass companion (estimated), ~0.016 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 9.48 h |
| Discovery | 2020 · htru_pks |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 17h 27m 00.4s |
| Declination (J2000) | −29° 51′ 41″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 60° N. South of latitude 60° 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 18 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 313 million years.