Pulsar
PSR J1930+1403_P
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 312 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 5.575 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 | 3.209 ms (312 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 8.2×10⁻²² s/s |
| Characteristic age | 62.3 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 5.2×10⁷ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 9.7×10³² erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 150.5 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 4,733 pc (15.4 thousand ly) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.27 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 5.575 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.000019 |
| Discovery | 2021 · fast_gpps |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 19h 30m 17.6s |
| Declination (J2000) | +14° 03′ 54″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 76° S. North of latitude 76° 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 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 274 million years.