Neutron star
The Hulse–Taylor Pulsar
Also PSR B1913+16 · PSR J1915+1606
A pulsar in a tight orbit with another neutron star, whose slowly shrinking orbit gave the first evidence of gravitational waves.
Measured
- Distance
- about 17,120 light-years (published estimates 13,590–17,120)
- Constellation
- Aquila
- Position (J2000)
- RA 19h 15m 28s, Dec +16.11°
How far, from the Sun
About 17,100 light-years. To cross it:
- Light17,100 years
- Voyager 1's speed304 million years
- Driving at 100 km/h185 billion years
Voyager 1 at the speed it moved outward over the year to 2026-10-25 (JPL Horizons). Driving: nonstop, never refuelling.
Facts
- Its discoverers, Russell Hulse and Joseph Taylor, won the 1993 Nobel Prize in Physics.
- The two neutron stars orbit each other every 7.75 hours.
- About 17,000 light-years is an estimate from how much gas its signal passed through. A weak radio parallax gives about 13,400 light-years instead, and the two are still uncertain.
Where this comes from
- ATNF Pulsar Catalogue v2.7.0, read 2026-10-31: DIST_DM 5.246 kpc (Yao et al. 2017), DIST 4.167 kpc; 5.25 kpc as listed by Han et al. 2018, ApJS 234, 11
- This research has made use of the SIMBAD database, CDS, Strasbourg, France (Wenger et al. 2000, A&AS 143, 9).
- This research has made use of the VizieR catalogue access tool, CDS, Strasbourg, France (DOI: 10.26093/cds/vizier).
Every catalogue Ouranos draws is credited on the credits page.