Pulsar
PSR J1806+2819
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 66 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 43.867 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 | Hercules |
| Period | 15.084 ms (66 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 3.7×10⁻²⁰ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 6.4 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 7.6×10⁸ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 4.3×10³² erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 18.7 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 1,330 pc (4.3 thousand ly) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.29 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 43.867 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.000087 |
| Discovery | 2018 · gbncc, ar327, lotaas, fast_gpps |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 18h 06m 25.1s |
| Declination (J2000) | +28° 19′ 01″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 62° S. North of latitude 62° N 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 4,338 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 77 million years.