Pulsar
PSR J1946-5403
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 369 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 3.12 h orbit with a very-low-mass companion. Period, spin-down, distance and orbit come from the ATNF Pulsar Catalogue; the beam geometry is illustrative.
| Type | Pulsar |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Telescopium |
| Period | 2.710 ms (369 Hz) |
| Dispersion measure | 23.7 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 1,235 pc (4.0 thousand ly) |
| Companion | very-low-mass companion (estimated), ~0.025 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 3.12 h |
| Discovery | 2015 · FermiAssoc |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 19h 46m 34.5s |
| Declination (J2000) | −54° 03′ 42″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 36° N. South of latitude 36° S 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 4,028 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 71 million years.