Pulsar
PSR J1906+0055
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 358 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 14.63 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 | 2.790 ms (358 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 3.3×10⁻²¹ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 13.3 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 9.7×10⁷ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 6.0×10³³ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 126.8 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 4,477 pc (14.6 thousand ly) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.13 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 14.63 h |
| Eccentricity | 0.000001 |
| Discovery | 2015 · palfa |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 19h 06m 48.7s |
| Declination (J2000) | +0° 55′ 08″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 89° 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 15 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 259 million years.