Pulsar
PSR J1859+0313_P
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 621 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 10.66 h 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 | 1.610 ms (621 Hz) |
| Dispersion measure | 107.7 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 3,076 pc (10.0 thousand ly) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.34 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 10.66 h |
| Discovery | 2021 · fast_gpps |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 18h 59m 36.0s |
| Declination (J2000) | +3° 13′ 00″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 87° 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 10 thousand 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 178 million years.