Pulsar
PSR J1912-0952
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 40 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 29.493 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 | 25.068 ms (40 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 2.9×10⁻²⁰ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 13.9 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 8.6×10⁸ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 7.2×10³¹ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 126.4 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 9,446 pc (30.8 thousand ly) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.085 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 29.493 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.000049 |
| Discovery | 2023 · fast_crafts |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 19h 12m 12.2s |
| Declination (J2000) | −9° 52′ 52″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 80° N. 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 31 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 547 million years.