Pulsar
PSR J2039-5617
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 377 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 5.47 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 | Indus |
| Period | 2.651 ms (377 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 1.4×10⁻²⁰ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 3.0 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 2.0×10⁸ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 3.0×10³⁴ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 24.6 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 1,800 pc (5.9 thousand ly) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.20 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 5.47 h |
| Discovery | 2021 · FermiAssoc |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 20h 39m 35.0s |
| Declination (J2000) | −56° 17′ 09″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 34° N. South of latitude 34° S 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 5,871 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 104 million years.