Pulsar
PSR J1838+0024
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 197 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 8.415 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 | 5.087 ms (197 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 2.7×10⁻²⁰ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 3.0 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 3.7×10⁸ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 8.0×10³³ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 122.6 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 4,080 pc (13.3 thousand ly) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.097 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 8.415 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.000042 |
| Discovery | 2025 · fast_gpps |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 18h 38m 23.4s |
| Declination (J2000) | +0° 24′ 21″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 90° 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 13 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 236 million years.