Pulsar
PSR J2229+2643
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 336 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 93.016 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 | Pegasus |
| Period | 2.978 ms (336 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 1.5×10⁻²¹ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 31.0 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 6.8×10⁷ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 2.3×10³³ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 22.7 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 1,800 pc (5.9 thousand ly) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.14 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 93.016 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.000255 |
| Discovery | 1995 · ar4, ar327, gbncc, fast_gpps |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 22h 29m 50.9s |
| Declination (J2000) | +26° 43′ 58″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 63° S. North of latitude 63° 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 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.