Pulsar
PSR J1946+0904_P
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 39 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 6.038 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 | 25.772 ms (39 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 2.4×10⁻²¹ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 171.0 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 2.5×10⁸ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 5.5×10³⁰ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 37.2 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 1,604 pc (5.2 thousand ly) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.36 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 6.038 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.000344 |
| Discovery | 2025 · fast_gpps |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 19h 46m 56.9s |
| Declination (J2000) | +9° 04′ 53″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 81° 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 5,232 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 93 million years.