Pulsar
PSR J1744-2946
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 119 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 4.78 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 | Sagittarius |
| Period | 8.392 ms (119 Hz) |
| Dispersion measure | 673.7 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 4,585 pc (15.0 thousand ly) |
| Companion | very-low-mass companion (estimated), ~0.060 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 4.78 h |
| Eccentricity | 0.000300 |
| Discovery | 2024 · misc |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 17h 44m 15.5s |
| Declination (J2000) | −29° 46′ 52″ |
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 15 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 265 million years.