Pulsar
PSR J2214+3000
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 321 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 10.00 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 | Pegasus |
| Period | 3.119 ms (321 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 1.5×10⁻²⁰ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 3.4 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 2.2×10⁸ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.9×10³⁴ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 22.6 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 600 pc (2.0 thousand ly) |
| Companion | very-low-mass companion (estimated), ~0.015 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 10.00 h |
| Eccentricity | 0.000016 |
| Discovery | 2011 · FermiAssoc, ar327, gbncc |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 22h 14m 38.9s |
| Declination (J2000) | +30° 00′ 38″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 60° S. North of latitude 60° 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 around the year 69. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 35 million years.