Pulsar
PSR J1738+0333
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 171 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 8.51 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 | Ophiuchus |
| Period | 5.850 ms (171 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 2.4×10⁻²⁰ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 3.8 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 3.8×10⁸ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 4.8×10³³ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 33.8 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 1,695 pc (5.5 thousand ly) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.10 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 8.51 h |
| Eccentricity | 0.000000 |
| Discovery | 2005 · pkssw, ar327, fast_gpps |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 17h 38m 54.0s |
| Declination (J2000) | +3° 33′ 11″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 86° S. 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 5,528 years ago. At that time the first farming villages were being founded; there was no writing yet. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 98 million years.