Pulsar
PSR J1918+0621_P
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 475 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 4.449 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 | 2.104 ms (475 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 5.6×10⁻²² s/s |
| Characteristic age | 59.8 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 3.5×10⁷ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 2.4×10³³ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 63.1 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 1,948 pc (6.4 thousand ly) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.16 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 4.449 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.000042 |
| Discovery | 2025 · fast_gpps |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 19h 18m 00.6s |
| Declination (J2000) | +6° 21′ 59″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 84° 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 6,354 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 113 million years.