Pulsar
PSR J2043+1711
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 420 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 1.482 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 | Delphinus |
| Period | 2.380 ms (420 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 5.2×10⁻²¹ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 7.2 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 1.1×10⁸ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.5×10³⁴ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 20.7 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 1,389 pc (4.5 thousand ly) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.20 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 1.482 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.000005 |
| Discovery | 2011 · FermiAssoc, ar327 |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 20h 43m 20.9s |
| Declination (J2000) | +17° 11′ 29″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 73° S. North of latitude 73° 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 4,530 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 80 million years.