Pulsar
PSR J1908+0128
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 213 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 84.192 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 | 4.702 ms (213 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 5.3×10⁻²⁰ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 1.4 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 5.0×10⁸ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 2.0×10³⁴ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 75.1 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 2,630 pc (8.6 thousand ly) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.34 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 84.192 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.000265 |
| Discovery | 2023 · fast_crafts, fast_gpps |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 19h 08m 18.8s |
| Declination (J2000) | +1° 28′ 23″ |
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 8,578 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 152 million years.