Pulsar
PSR J1737-0811
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 240 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 79.517 days 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 | 4.175 ms (240 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 7.9×10⁻²¹ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 8.3 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 1.8×10⁸ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 4.3×10³³ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 55.3 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 206 pc (671.9 ly) |
| Companion | very-low-mass companion (estimated), ~0.076 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 79.517 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.000054 |
| Discovery | 2013 · gbt350 |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 17h 37m 47.1s |
| Declination (J2000) | −8° 11′ 09″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 82° 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 1354. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 12 million years.