Pulsar
PSR J1803-4719
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 273 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 90.442 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 | Ara |
| Period | 3.669 ms (273 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 3.4×10⁻²⁰ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 1.7 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 3.6×10⁸ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 2.7×10³⁴ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 41.6 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 1,186 pc (3.9 thousand ly) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.28 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 90.442 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.000090 |
| Discovery | 2025 · FermiAssoc |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 18h 03m 01.0s |
| Declination (J2000) | −47° 19′ 08″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 43° N. South of latitude 43° 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 around 1843 BC. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 69 million years.