Pulsar
PSR J1911+1253
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 37 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 11.789 days orbit with a CO white dwarf. Period, spin-down, distance and orbit come from the ATNF Pulsar Catalogue; the beam geometry is illustrative.
| Type | Pulsar |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Aquila |
| Period | 27.239 ms (37 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 4.3×10⁻²⁰ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 10.0 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 1.1×10⁹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 8.4×10³¹ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 68.7 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 2,165 pc (7.1 thousand ly) |
| Companion | CO white dwarf (estimated), ~0.77 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 11.789 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.0050 |
| Discovery | 2025 · fast_gpps |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 19h 11m 28.7s |
| Declination (J2000) | +12° 53′ 18″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 77° S. North of latitude 77° N 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 7,061 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 125 million years.