Pulsar
PSR J2256-1024
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 436 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 5.11 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 | Aquarius |
| Period | 2.295 ms (436 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 1.1×10⁻²⁰ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 3.2 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 1.6×10⁸ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 3.7×10³⁴ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 13.8 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 2,083 pc (6.8 thousand ly) |
| Companion | very-low-mass companion (estimated), ~0.034 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 5.11 h |
| Discovery | 2011 · FermiAssoc, gbncc |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 22h 56m 56.4s |
| Declination (J2000) | −10° 24′ 35″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 80° N. South of latitude 80° S it never sets. It stands highest at midnight in September, the best time to observe it.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out 6,794 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 121 million years.