Pulsar
PSR J2047+1053
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 233 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 2.98 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 | Delphinus |
| Period | 4.286 ms (233 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 2.1×10⁻²⁰ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 3.3 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 3.0×10⁸ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.0×10³⁴ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 34.6 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 2,798 pc (9.1 thousand ly) |
| Companion | very-low-mass companion (estimated), ~0.041 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 2.98 h |
| Discovery | 2012 · FermiAssoc, ar327 |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 20h 47m 10.2s |
| Declination (J2000) | +10° 53′ 08″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 79° S. North of latitude 79° 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 9,126 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 162 million years.