Pulsar
PSR J1801-0857U
Millisecond pulsar · in the globular cluster NGC6517
A millisecond pulsar spinning 166 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. Period, spin-down, distance and orbit come from the ATNF Pulsar Catalogue; the beam geometry is illustrative.
| Type | Pulsar |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Ophiuchus |
| Period | 6.022 ms (166 Hz) |
| Dispersion measure | 182.9 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 6,800 pc (22.2 thousand ly) |
| Location | in the globular cluster NGC6517 |
| Discovery | 2026 · misc |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 18h 00m 60.0s |
| Declination (J2000) | −8° 56′ 59″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 81° 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 22 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 393 million years.