Pulsar
PSR J1915+0720_P
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 176 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 4.537 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 | 5.690 ms (176 Hz) |
| Dispersion measure | 122.1 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 4,615 pc (15.1 thousand ly) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.19 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 4.537 days |
| Discovery | 2025 · fast_gpps |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 19h 15m 35.3s |
| Declination (J2000) | +7° 19′ 59″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 83° 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 267 million years.