Pulsar
PSR J1858-5422
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 425 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 2.582 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 | Telescopium |
| Period | 2.355 ms (425 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 4.1×10⁻²¹ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 9.1 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 10.0×10⁷ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.2×10³⁴ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 30.8 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 1,208 pc (3.9 thousand ly) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.14 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 2.582 days |
| Discovery | 2023 · meerkat_trapum, FermiAssoc |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 18h 58m 07.8s |
| Declination (J2000) | −54° 22′ 16″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 36° N. South of latitude 36° S it never sets. 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 around 1915 BC. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 70 million years.