Pulsar
PSR J1917+1259_P
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 177 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 3.201 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 | 5.637 ms (177 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 6.6×10⁻²¹ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 13.6 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 1.9×10⁸ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.4×10³³ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 117.0 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 3,643 pc (11.9 thousand ly) |
| Companion | CO white dwarf (estimated), ~0.48 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 3.201 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.000048 |
| Discovery | 2021 · fast_gpps |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 19h 17m 21.3s |
| Declination (J2000) | +13° 00′ 00″ |
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 12 thousand 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 211 million years.