Pulsar
PSR J1906+0454
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 480 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 7.042 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 | Aquila |
| Period | 2.083 ms (480 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 3.0×10⁻²¹ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 11.1 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 8.0×10⁷ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.3×10³⁴ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 142.8 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 4,092 pc (13.3 thousand ly) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.19 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 7.042 days |
| Discovery | 2019 · palfa |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 19h 06m 47.1s |
| Declination (J2000) | +4° 54′ 09″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 85° 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 13 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 237 million years.