Pulsar
PSR J1801-0144_P
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 330 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 4.760 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 | Serpens |
| Period | 3.033 ms (330 Hz) |
| Dispersion measure | 60.0 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 2,077 pc (6.8 thousand ly) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.27 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 4.760 days |
| Discovery | 2025 · fast_hglps |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 18h 01m 15.0s |
| Declination (J2000) | −1° 43′ 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 6,774 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 120 million years.