Pulsar
PSR J1826-0049
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 218 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 6.735 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 | Serpens |
| Period | 4.591 ms (218 Hz) |
| Dispersion measure | 42.7 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 1,298 pc (4.2 thousand ly) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.27 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 6.735 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.000002 |
| Discovery | 2024 · misc |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 18h 26m 16.5s |
| Declination (J2000) | −0° 49′ 50″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 89° 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 4,234 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 75 million years.