Pulsar
PSR J1952+2837
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 55 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 20.82 h 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 | Vulpecula |
| Period | 18.021 ms (55 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 2.1×10⁻¹⁹ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 1.4 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 2.0×10⁹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.4×10³³ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 313.1 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 10,470 pc (34.1 thousand ly) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.30 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 20.82 h |
| Eccentricity | 0.000008 |
| Discovery | 2025 · fast_gpps |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 19h 52m 49.7s |
| Declination (J2000) | +28° 37′ 13″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 61° S. North of latitude 61° 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 34 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 606 million years.