User:Lithium cyanide/sandbox


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 * Distance 
 * 230 parsecs

PSR J0030+0451 is a millisecond pulsar located in the constellation Cetus and is one of the nearest known rotation powered "recycled" pulsars. The name PSR J0030+0451 is derived from the word "pulsar" and the celestial coordinates at which the oject is located with the "J" indicating that the coordinates are for the 2000.0 epoch. PSR J0030+0451 was discovered in the Drift Scan Search by the Arecibo radio observatory. (Lommen et al 2000).

Column density studies of the interstellar medium towards the source imply the pulsar's distance to be 230 pc. It has a rotation period of 4.86 ms meaning it completes over 205 rotations per second. The pulsar is gradually losing rotational energy, spinning down at a rate of ~10^-20 seconds per second. (Lommen). It is estimated to be 7.8 billion years old and has a surface magnetic field of 270 million Gauss.