Pulsar
PSR J1949+3106
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 76 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 1.950 days orbit with a CO white dwarf. Period, spin-down, distance and orbit come from the ATNF Pulsar Catalogue; the beam geometry is illustrative.
| Type | Pulsar |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Cygnus |
| Period | 13.138 ms (76 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 9.4×10⁻²⁰ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 2.2 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 1.1×10⁹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.6×10³³ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 164.1 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 7,468 pc (24.4 thousand ly) |
| Companion | CO white dwarf (estimated), ~0.97 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 1.950 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.000043 |
| Discovery | 2012 · palfa, ar327 |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 19h 49m 29.6s |
| Declination (J2000) | +31° 06′ 04″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 59° S. North of latitude 59° 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 24 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 432 million years.