Pulsar
PSR J2205+6012
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 414 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 1.095 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 | Cepheus |
| Period | 2.416 ms (414 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 2.0×10⁻²⁰ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 1.9 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 2.2×10⁸ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 5.5×10³⁴ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 157.6 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 3,535 pc (11.5 thousand ly) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.18 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 1.095 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.000001 |
| Discovery | 2022 · misc, FermiBlind |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 22h 05m 34.2s |
| Declination (J2000) | +60° 12′ 55″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 30° S. North of latitude 30° N it never sets. It stands highest at midnight in August, the best time to observe it.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out 12 thousand 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 205 million years.