Pulsar
PSR J1753-2819
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 54 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 9.30 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 | 18.624 ms (54 Hz) |
| Dispersion measure | 298.4 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 4,142 pc (13.5 thousand ly) |
| Companion | very-low-mass companion (estimated), ~0.059 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 9.30 h |
| Discovery | 2013 · pksmb |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 17h 53m 56.2s |
| Declination (J2000) | −28° 19′ 30″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 62° N. South of latitude 62° 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 14 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 240 million years.