Pulsar
PSR J1833-3840
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 536 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 21.61 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 | Corona Australis |
| Period | 1.866 ms (536 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 1.8×10⁻²⁰ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 1.7 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 1.8×10⁸ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.1×10³⁵ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 78.7 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 4,653 pc (15.2 thousand ly) |
| Companion | very-low-mass companion (estimated), ~0.010 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 21.61 h |
| Eccentricity | 0.000100 |
| Discovery | 2015 · misc, FermiAssoc |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 18h 33m 04.6s |
| Declination (J2000) | −38° 40′ 46″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 51° N. South of latitude 51° 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 15 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 269 million years.