Pulsar
PSR J1748-0224_P
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 567 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 3.090 days 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 | 1.765 ms (567 Hz) |
| Dispersion measure | 75.9 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 2,797 pc (9.1 thousand ly) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.21 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 3.090 days |
| Discovery | 2025 · fast_hglps |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 17h 48m 48.0s |
| Declination (J2000) | −2° 23′ 59″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 88° 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 9,123 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 162 million years.