Pulsar
PSR J1916+0740
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 89 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 14.818 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 | 11.220 ms (89 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 2.0×10⁻²⁰ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 8.9 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 4.8×10⁸ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 5.6×10³² erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 219.9 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 8,434 pc (27.5 thousand ly) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.19 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 14.818 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.000021 |
| Discovery | 2025 · fast_gpps |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 19h 16m 15.4s |
| Declination (J2000) | +7° 40′ 41″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 82° 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 28 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 488 million years.