Pulsar
PSR J1946+2052
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 59 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 1.88 h orbit with a neutron star. Period, spin-down, distance and orbit come from the ATNF Pulsar Catalogue; the beam geometry is illustrative.
| Type | Pulsar |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Vulpecula |
| Period | 16.960 ms (59 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 1.1×10⁻¹⁸ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 241 million years |
| Magnetic field | 4.4×10⁹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 9.0×10³³ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 93.9 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 3,509 pc (11.4 thousand ly) |
| Companion | neutron star (estimated), ~1.50 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 1.88 h |
| Eccentricity | 0.0638 |
| Discovery | 2018 · palfa |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 19h 46m 14.1s |
| Declination (J2000) | +20° 52′ 25″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 69° S. North of latitude 69° 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 11 thousand 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 203 million years.