first millisecond pulsar PSR B1937+21
E267991
PSR B1937+21 is the first-discovered millisecond pulsar, a rapidly rotating neutron star that spins hundreds of times per second and serves as a key object in the study of extreme astrophysical environments and precise cosmic timing.
All labels observed (3)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| PSR B1937+21 | 1 |
| PSR J1939+2134 | 1 |
| first millisecond pulsar PSR B1937+21 canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T2458911 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
Target entity: first millisecond pulsar PSR B1937+21 Context triple: [Arecibo Observatory, discovered, first millisecond pulsar PSR B1937+21]
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A.
neutron star hypothesis
The neutron star hypothesis is Fritz Zwicky’s pioneering proposal that supernova explosions leave behind extremely dense stellar remnants composed primarily of neutrons, now known as neutron stars.
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B.
Baade’s star
Baade’s star is a luminous, variable star in the Andromeda Galaxy notable for its role in Walter Baade’s work refining the cosmic distance scale.
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C.
Tolman surface brightness test
The Tolman surface brightness test is an observational cosmology method that checks whether the universe is expanding by examining how the surface brightness of distant galaxies diminishes with redshift.
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D.
Oppenheimer–Volkoff limit
The Oppenheimer–Volkoff limit is the theoretical maximum mass a neutron star can have before collapsing into a black hole under its own gravity.
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E.
Cocconi
Cocconi is an Italian surname most notably associated with physicist Giuseppe Cocconi, a pioneer in particle physics and early SETI research.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
Target entity: first millisecond pulsar PSR B1937+21 Target entity description: PSR B1937+21 is the first-discovered millisecond pulsar, a rapidly rotating neutron star that spins hundreds of times per second and serves as a key object in the study of extreme astrophysical environments and precise cosmic timing.
-
A.
neutron star hypothesis
The neutron star hypothesis is Fritz Zwicky’s pioneering proposal that supernova explosions leave behind extremely dense stellar remnants composed primarily of neutrons, now known as neutron stars.
-
B.
Baade’s star
Baade’s star is a luminous, variable star in the Andromeda Galaxy notable for its role in Walter Baade’s work refining the cosmic distance scale.
-
C.
Tolman surface brightness test
The Tolman surface brightness test is an observational cosmology method that checks whether the universe is expanding by examining how the surface brightness of distant galaxies diminishes with redshift.
-
D.
Oppenheimer–Volkoff limit
The Oppenheimer–Volkoff limit is the theoretical maximum mass a neutron star can have before collapsing into a black hole under its own gravity.
-
E.
Cocconi
Cocconi is an Italian surname most notably associated with physicist Giuseppe Cocconi, a pioneer in particle physics and early SETI research.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (47)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
astrophysical object
ⓘ
millisecond pulsar ⓘ neutron star ⓘ radio pulsar ⓘ |
| age | characteristic age of order 10^9 years ⓘ |
| belongsToPopulation |
Galactic disk pulsars
ⓘ
recycled pulsars ⓘ |
| catalogDesignation |
first millisecond pulsar PSR B1937+21
self-link
ⓘ
surface form:
PSR B1937+21
first millisecond pulsar PSR B1937+21 self-linksurface differs ⓘ
surface form:
PSR J1939+2134
|
| declination | +21°34′59″ ⓘ |
| discoveredBy |
Carl Heiles
ⓘ
Donald C. Backer ⓘ M. M. Goss ⓘ Michael Davis ⓘ Shri Kulkarni ⓘ |
| discoveryMethod | radio observations ⓘ |
| discoveryYear | 1982 ⓘ |
| distanceFromEarth |
approximately 11,700 light-years
ⓘ
approximately 3.6 kiloparsecs ⓘ |
| emissionType | radio emission ⓘ |
| energySource | loss of rotational kinetic energy ⓘ |
| galacticLatitude | −0.29° ⓘ |
| galacticLongitude | 57.51° ⓘ |
| hasCompanion | no known binary companion ⓘ |
| hasGlitches | shows timing irregularities on very small scales ⓘ |
| hasPulseProfile | main pulse and interpulse ⓘ |
| hostGalaxy | Milky Way ⓘ |
| locatedInConstellation | Vulpecula ⓘ |
| magneticFieldStrength | relatively low for a pulsar ⓘ |
| notableFor |
first-discovered millisecond pulsar
ⓘ
very stable rotation ⓘ |
| observedBy |
Arecibo Observatory
ⓘ
various radio telescopes worldwide ⓘ |
| pulsePeriodStability | extremely high ⓘ |
| rightAscension | 19h39m38s ⓘ |
| roleInAstrophysics |
benchmark object for millisecond pulsar studies
ⓘ
prototype of rapidly rotating neutron stars ⓘ |
| rotationFrequency | about 641 Hz ⓘ |
| spinAxisAlignment | misaligned with magnetic axis ⓘ |
| spinDownRate | very small ⓘ |
| spinPeriod | 1.5578 milliseconds ⓘ |
| spinPeriodDerivative | positive ⓘ |
| timingStability | comparable to atomic clocks over some timescales ⓘ |
| usedFor |
precision cosmic timing
ⓘ
pulsar timing experiments ⓘ studies of interstellar medium ⓘ tests of general relativity ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Subject: first millisecond pulsar PSR B1937+21 Description of subject: PSR B1937+21 is the first-discovered millisecond pulsar, a rapidly rotating neutron star that spins hundreds of times per second and serves as a key object in the study of extreme astrophysical environments and precise cosmic timing.
Referenced by (3)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.