juliensimon/pulsar-catalog

---
license: cc-by-4.0
pretty_name: "ATNF Pulsar Catalogue"
language:
- en
description: "Complete catalog of known radio pulsars from the ATNF Pulsar Catalogue, including spin parameters, dispersion measures, flux densities, and derived quantities. Updated monthly."
task_categories:
- tabular-classification
tags:
- pulsar
- neutron-star
- astronomy
- radio
- magnetar
- atnf
- open-data
size_categories:
- 1K<n<10K
---

# ATNF Pulsar Catalogue


Complete catalog of known radio pulsars from the
[ATNF Pulsar Catalogue](https://www.atnf.csiro.au/research/pulsar/psrcat/),
sourced via NASA HEASARC. Currently **4,353** pulsars (804 millisecond pulsars,
497 in binary systems).

## Dataset description

Pulsars are rapidly rotating neutron stars that emit beams of electromagnetic radiation.
The ATNF Pulsar Catalogue (Manchester et al. 2005) is the definitive reference catalog,
maintained by CSIRO. It includes spin period, period derivative, dispersion measure,
flux density, distance estimates, and derived quantities such as characteristic age,
surface magnetic field, and spin-down luminosity.

**Millisecond pulsars** (period < 30 ms) are ancient pulsars spun up by accretion
from a companion star. They are among the most precise clocks in the universe and are
used for pulsar timing arrays to detect gravitational waves.

## Schema

| Column | Type | Description |
|--------|------|-------------|
| `name` | string | Pulsar J-name |
| `alt_name` | string | Alternative B-name designation |
| `ra` | float | Right ascension (degrees) |
| `dec` | float | Declination (degrees) |
| `period` | float | Barycentric period (seconds) |
| `period_dot` | float | Period derivative (s/s) |
| `dm` | float | Dispersion measure (pc/cm^3) |
| `flux_1400_mhz` | float | Mean flux density at 1400 MHz (mJy) |
| `companion_type` | string | Binary companion classification |
| `dm_distance` | float | DM-derived distance (kpc) |
| `age` | float | Characteristic spin-down age (years) |
| `b_surf` | float | Surface magnetic field (Gauss) |
| `e_dot` | float | Spin-down luminosity (erg/s) |
| `pulsar_type` | string | Pulsar type classification |
| `pm_tot` | float | Total proper motion (mas/yr) |
| `discovery_date` | int | Year of discovery publication |
| `assoc_object` | string | Associated objects (e.g. SNR, globular cluster) |
| `binary_model` | string | Binary model type |
| `is_millisecond` | bool | True if period < 30 ms |
| `is_binary` | bool | True if in a binary system |

## Quick stats

- **4,353** pulsars
- **804** millisecond pulsars (period < 30 ms)
- **497** binary pulsars
- Median period: **0.4860** s
- Median DM: **147.5** pc/cm^3

## Usage

```python
from datasets import load_dataset

ds = load_dataset("juliensimon/pulsar-catalog", split="train")
df = ds.to_pandas()

# Millisecond pulsars
msp = df[df["is_millisecond"] == True]
print(f"{len(msp):,} millisecond pulsars")

# Binary pulsars
binaries = df[df["is_binary"] == True]
print(f"{len(binaries):,} in binary systems")

# Period-period derivative diagram (P-Pdot)
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
valid = df.dropna(subset=["period", "period_dot"])
valid = valid[valid["period_dot"] > 0]
plt.scatter(valid["period"], valid["period_dot"], s=1, alpha=0.5)
plt.xscale("log"); plt.yscale("log")
plt.xlabel("Period (s)")
plt.ylabel("Period derivative (s/s)")
plt.title("P-Pdot Diagram")
```

## Data source

All data comes from the [ATNF Pulsar Catalogue](https://www.atnf.csiro.au/research/pulsar/psrcat/)
(Manchester, R. N., Hobbs, G. B., Teoh, A. & Hobbs, M., 2005, AJ, 129, 1993),
accessed via NASA HEASARC TAP service.

## Update schedule

Monthly (1st Monday at 18:00 UTC) via [GitHub Actions](https://github.com/juliensimon/space-datasets).

## Related datasets

- [gamma-ray-bursts](https://huggingface.co/datasets/juliensimon/gamma-ray-bursts) — Fermi GBM Gamma-Ray Burst Catalog
- [space-track-satcat](https://huggingface.co/datasets/juliensimon/space-track-satcat) — NORAD Satellite Catalog
- [solar-flare-index](https://huggingface.co/datasets/juliensimon/solar-flare-index) — Solar flare observations

## Pipeline

Source code: [juliensimon/space-datasets](https://github.com/juliensimon/space-datasets)

## Citation

```bibtex
@dataset{pulsar_catalog,
author = {Simon, Julien},
title = {ATNF Pulsar Catalogue},
year = {2026},
publisher = {Hugging Face},
url = {https://huggingface.co/datasets/juliensimon/pulsar-catalog},
note = {Based on ATNF Pulsar Catalogue (Manchester et al. 2005) via NASA HEASARC}
}
```

## License

[CC-BY-4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)