Pulsar
PSR J1953+1846E
Millisecond pulsar · in the globular cluster M71
A millisecond pulsar spinning 225 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 0.89 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 | Sagitta |
| Period | 4.444 ms (225 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 2.2×10⁻²⁰ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 3.2 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 3.2×10⁸ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.0×10³⁴ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 113.1 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 4,342 pc (14.2 thousand ly) |
| Location | in the globular cluster M71 |
| Companion | very-low-mass companion (estimated), ~0.009 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 0.89 h |
| Eccentricity | 0.000500 |
| Discovery | 2021 · fast_gpps, fast_gcps |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 19h 53m 37.9s |
| Declination (J2000) | +18° 44′ 54″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 71° S. North of latitude 71° 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 14 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 251 million years.