Pulsar
PSR J1813-2621
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 226 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 8.160 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 | 4.430 ms (226 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 1.2×10⁻²⁰ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 5.6 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 2.4×10⁸ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 5.7×10³³ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 122.5 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 3,158 pc (10.3 thousand ly) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.22 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 8.160 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.000003 |
| Discovery | 2004 · pksmb |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 18h 13m 40.6s |
| Declination (J2000) | −26° 21′ 57″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 64° N. South of latitude 64° 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 10 thousand 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 183 million years.