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EntityQ528· pop 37· linked from 459 articles

Also known as PSR 1257+12, Lich, PSR1257+12

pulsar located around 2300 light-years from the Sun in Virgo constellation

Key facts

Constellation
Virgo
Right ascension
13 00 03.1075
Declination
+12 ° 40 ′ 55.155 ″
Evolutionary stage
Pulsar

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Distance from Earth
710
Mass
0.012
Orbital period
98.2114
Image
Artist's concept of PSR B1257+12 system.jpg
Show 16 more facts
time of discovery or invention
1990-01-01
catalog code
PSR J1300+1240
right ascension
195.01294792
declination
12.68198750
parallax
1.41
name
Lich
Commons category
PSR B1257+12
age estimated by a dating method
1
right ascension component of proper motion
46.44
declination component of proper motion
-84.87
spectral class
PSR
orbital inclination
47
orbital eccentricity
0.0252
semi-major axis of an orbit
0.46
time of periapsis
2449765.5
argument of periapsis
108.3
Sources (2)

via Wikidata · CC0

~7 min read

Article

PSR B1257+12, alternatively designated PSR J1300+1240, is a millisecond pulsar, 2,300 light-years (710 parsecs) from the Sun, in the constellation Virgo, rotating at 160.8 times per second (faster than the blade of a blender). It is also named Lich, after a powerful, fictional undead creature.

The pulsar has a planetary system with three known pulsar planets, named "Draugr" (PSR B1257+12 b or PSR B1257+12 A), "Poltergeist" (PSR B1257+12 c, or PSR B1257+12 B), and "Phobetor" (PSR B1257+12 d, or PSR B1257+12 C). They were both the first extrasolar planets to be discovered and the first pulsar planets to be discovered—B and C in 1992 and A in 1994. A is the lowest-mass planet yet discovered by any observational technique, having somewhat less than twice the mass of Earth's moon.

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