Pulsar
PSR J1839+0543
Radio pulsar · binary system
A neutron star spinning once every 0.058 seconds; the beams from its magnetic poles sweep across Earth on every turn. It shares a 28.517 days orbit with a CO white dwarf. Period, spin-down, distance and orbit come from the ATNF Pulsar Catalogue; the beam geometry is illustrative.
| Type | Pulsar |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Serpens |
| Period | 57.928 ms (17 Hz) |
| Dispersion measure | 113.8 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 5,282 pc (17.2 thousand ly) |
| Companion | CO white dwarf (estimated), ~1.06 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 28.517 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.0039 |
| Discovery | 2024 · misc |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 18h 38m 60.0s |
| Declination (J2000) | +5° 42′ 36″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 84° S. 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 17 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 306 million years.