Pulsar
PSR J1801-3210
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 134 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 20.772 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 | Sagittarius |
| Period | 7.454 ms (134 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 7.2×10⁻²³ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 1,640.0 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 2.4×10⁷ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 6.9×10³⁰ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 177.7 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 6,113 pc (19.9 thousand ly) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.16 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 20.772 days |
| Discovery | 2010 · htru_pks |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 18h 01m 25.9s |
| Declination (J2000) | −32° 10′ 54″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 58° N. South of latitude 58° 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 20 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 354 million years.