Pulsar
PSR J2333-5526
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 476 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 6.90 h 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 | Phoenix |
| Period | 2.102 ms (476 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 7.8×10⁻²¹ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 4.3 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 1.3×10⁸ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 3.3×10³⁴ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 19.9 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 2,464 pc (8.0 thousand ly) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.35 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 6.90 h |
| Discovery | 2024 · meerkat_trapum |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 23h 33m 16.0s |
| Declination (J2000) | −55° 26′ 21″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 35° N. South of latitude 35° 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 8,037 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 143 million years.