Pulsar
PSR J1929+0132
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 156 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 9.265 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 | 6.418 ms (156 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 8.6×10⁻²¹ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 11.9 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 2.4×10⁸ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.3×10³³ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 53.5 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 1,850 pc (6.0 thousand ly) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.31 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 9.265 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.000008 |
| Discovery | 2023 · fast_crafts, fast_gpps |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 19h 29m 42.5s |
| Declination (J2000) | +1° 32′ 47″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 88° 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 6,034 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 107 million years.