Pulsar
PSR J1846-0513
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 43 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 14.71 h orbit with a neutron star. Period, spin-down, distance and orbit come from the ATNF Pulsar Catalogue; the beam geometry is illustrative.
| Type | Pulsar |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Scutum |
| Period | 23.370 ms (43 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 1.0×10⁻¹⁸ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 366 million years |
| Magnetic field | 4.9×10⁹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 3.1×10³³ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 310.7 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 5,165 pc (16.8 thousand ly) |
| Companion | neutron star (estimated), ~1.60 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 14.71 h |
| Eccentricity | 0.2086 |
| Discovery | 2024 · fast_crafts |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 18h 46m 09.0s |
| Declination (J2000) | −5° 13′ 21″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 85° N. It stands highest at midnight in July, 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 299 million years.