Pulsar
PSR J1902-5105
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 574 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 2.012 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 | 1.742 ms (574 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 9.2×10⁻²¹ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 3.0 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 1.3×10⁸ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 6.9×10³⁴ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 36.3 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 1,646 pc (5.4 thousand ly) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.19 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 2.012 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.000006 |
| Discovery | 2012 · FermiAssoc, ghrss |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 19h 02m 02.9s |
| Declination (J2000) | −51° 05′ 57″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 39° N. South of latitude 39° 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 5,369 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 95 million years.