Pulsar
PSR J2010+3051
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 208 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 23.359 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 | Cygnus |
| Period | 4.816 ms (208 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 4.9×10⁻²¹ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 15.7 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 1.6×10⁸ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.7×10³³ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 133.8 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 6,450 pc (21.0 thousand ly) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.24 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 23.359 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.000015 |
| Discovery | 2019 · palfa |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 20h 10m 04.0s |
| Declination (J2000) | +30° 51′ 19″ |
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 21 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 373 million years.