Pulsar
PSR J1830-0106_P
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 568 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 2.56 h orbit with a very-low-mass companion. Period, spin-down, distance and orbit come from the ATNF Pulsar Catalogue; the beam geometry is illustrative.
| Type | Pulsar |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Serpens |
| Period | 1.760 ms (568 Hz) |
| Dispersion measure | 149.4 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 4,957 pc (16.2 thousand ly) |
| Companion | very-low-mass companion (estimated), ~0.053 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 2.56 h |
| Discovery | 2025 · fast_gpps |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 18h 30m 07.5s |
| Declination (J2000) | −1° 06′ 00″ |
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 16 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 287 million years.