Pulsar
PSR J1844+0028
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 280 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 1.079 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 | Aquila |
| Period | 3.571 ms (280 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 1.8×10⁻²⁰ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 3.1 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 2.6×10⁸ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.6×10³⁴ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 181.1 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 4,565 pc (14.9 thousand ly) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.16 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 1.079 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.000049 |
| Discovery | 2021 · fast_gpps |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 18h 44m 37.4s |
| Declination (J2000) | +0° 28′ 13″ |
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 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 264 million years.