Pulsar
PSR J1856+1000_P
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 205 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 10.592 days orbit with a very-low-mass companion. Period, spin-down, distance and orbit come from the ATNF Pulsar Catalogue; the beam geometry is illustrative.
| Type | Pulsar |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Aquila |
| Period | 4.870 ms (205 Hz) |
| Dispersion measure | 202.1 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 11,310 pc (36.9 thousand ly) |
| Companion | very-low-mass companion (estimated), ~0.069 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 10.592 days |
| Discovery | 2025 · fast_gpps |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 18h 56m 30.3s |
| Declination (J2000) | +10° 00′ 00″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 80° S. 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 37 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 654 million years.