Pulsar
PSR J1742-0237_P
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 273 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 12.480 days orbit with a CO white dwarf. Period, spin-down, distance and orbit come from the ATNF Pulsar Catalogue; the beam geometry is illustrative.
| Type | Pulsar |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Ophiuchus |
| Period | 3.664 ms (273 Hz) |
| Dispersion measure | 65.7 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 1,528 pc (5.0 thousand ly) |
| Companion | CO white dwarf (estimated), ~0.46 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 12.480 days |
| Discovery | 2025 · fast_hglps |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 17h 42m 08.0s |
| Declination (J2000) | −2° 37′ 00″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 87° 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 4,984 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 88 million years.