Pulsar
PSR J1845+0201_P
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 232 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 5.326 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 | 4.309 ms (232 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 2.8×10⁻²⁰ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 2.4 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 3.5×10⁸ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.4×10³⁴ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 56.7 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 1,669 pc (5.4 thousand ly) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.24 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 5.326 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.000017 |
| Discovery | 2025 · fast_gpps |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 18h 45m 03.1s |
| Declination (J2000) | +2° 01′ 49″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 88° 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 5,444 years ago. At that time the first farming villages were being founded; there was no writing yet. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 97 million years.