Radio-Astronomy Records
Record-holding radio sources — the brightest, most distant, fastest-spinning, first-discovered, and
more. Every entry cites a source; values change as surveys go deeper, so the radio-records Claude
skill (.claude/skills/radio-records/) re-checks and updates this page against the live catalogues
(ATNF pulsar catalogue, VizieR, SIMBAD/NED, ADS). Entries marked [verify] are ones the skill should
re-confirm — don't quote them without checking.
Records are radio-specific (radio flux, radio spin, radio-detected distance). Many categories split by
source type (pulsars, AGN/quasars, radio galaxies, supernova remnants, FRBs, masers, solar system),
so a sub-record per type is given where it's meaningful.
Brightness (flux density)
| Record |
Source |
Value |
Reference |
| Brightest radio source, all-sky |
The Sun |
up to \(>10^{6}\) Jy in bursts (quiet Sun \(\sim\)10\(^4\) Jy at 1 GHz) |
Dulk 1985 |
| Brightest beyond the solar system |
Cassiopeia A (SNR) |
\(\sim\)2720 Jy at 1 GHz (1980; secular decline \(\sim\)0.5–1%/yr) |
Baars et al. 1977 |
| Brightest extragalactic |
Cygnus A (3C 405) |
\(\sim\)1600 Jy at 1.4 GHz |
Baars et al. 1977 |
| Other canonical bright |
Virgo A (M87), Centaurus A, Taurus A (Crab) |
tens–hundreds of Jy |
Baars et al. 1977 |
| Faintest individually detected |
deep-field µJy/sub-µJy sources |
\(\sim\)few hundred nJy (stacking reaches nJy) |
[verify] current deepest field (MeerKAT/VLA) |
Distance
| Record |
Source |
Value |
Reference |
| Closest, all-sky |
The Sun |
1 AU |
— |
| Nearest radio-detected star |
Proxima Centauri (flares) |
1.30 pc |
Pérez-Torres et al. 2021 |
| Nearest pulsars |
PSR J0437−4715, PSR J1856−3754 |
\(\sim\)130–160 pc |
ATNF catalogue [verify nearest] |
| Most distant radio-loud quasar |
PSO J172+18 |
\(z=6.82\) |
Bañados et al. 2021 [verify latest] |
| Most distant radio galaxy (HzRG) |
USS-selected HzRGs |
\(z\sim5.7\) |
Saxena et al. 2018 [verify] |
Pulsar spin
| Record |
Source |
Value |
Reference |
| Fastest-spinning pulsar |
PSR J1748−2446ad |
716 Hz (1.40 ms) |
Hessels et al. 2006 |
| First millisecond pulsar |
PSR B1937+21 |
642 Hz (1.56 ms) |
Backer et al. 1982 |
| Slowest "normal" radio pulsar |
PSR J0250+1749 |
\(P=23.5\) s |
Tan et al. 2018 |
| Long-period radio transients (new class) |
GPM J1839−10; GLEAM-X J1627−52 |
\(\sim\)1318 s (\(\sim\)22 min); \(\sim\)18 min |
Hurley-Walker et al. 2023, 2022 |
| First binary pulsar (Nobel 1993) |
PSR B1913+16 (Hulse–Taylor) |
\(P_b=7.75\) hr |
Hulse & Taylor 1975 |
Firsts (discovery)
| First |
Source |
Year |
Reference |
| Cosmic radio emission |
the Milky Way (toward Sagittarius) |
1933 |
Jansky 1933 |
| Discrete radio source ("radio star") |
Cygnus A |
1946 |
Hey, Parsons & Phillips 1946 |
| Optically identified radio galaxy |
Cygnus A |
1954 |
Baade & Minkowski 1954 |
| Quasar (with redshift) |
3C 273 |
1963 |
Schmidt 1963 |
| Pulsar |
PSR B1919+21 |
1968 |
Hewish, Bell et al. 1968 |
| Fast radio burst |
FRB 20010724 (Lorimer burst) |
2007 |
Lorimer et al. 2007 |
| Repeating FRB |
FRB 20121102A |
2016 |
Spitler et al. 2016 |
Names
- Coordinate-based designations are the longest: pulsars append a discovery suffix (e.g.
PSR J1748−2446ad — the 30th pulsar found in the globular cluster Terzan 5), and survey sources
encode full sexagesimal positions (e.g. GLEAM-X J162759.5−523504.3). [verify] the
skill can scan catalogues for the longest catalogued designation string.
Notable / iconic sources
- Sagittarius A* — the Galactic-Centre supermassive black hole; first horizon-scale image, EHT 2022.
- M87* — first image of a black hole, EHT 2019.
- 3C 273, Cygnus A, Cassiopeia A, the Crab (Taurus A), Centaurus A, Virgo A — the canonical sources
every facility points at first.
By telescope (signature / "first-light" sources)
| Telescope |
Signature radio source(s) |
| Event Horizon Telescope |
M87* (2019), Sgr A* (2022) |
| Arecibo |
Hulse–Taylor binary PSR B1913+16; early FRB repeater work |
| VLA / VLASS |
Cygnus A imaging; the deep-field source counts |
| MWA / GLEAM(-X) |
long-period radio transients; the southern peaked-spectrum samples used by jansky-research |
| CHIME |
the FRB catalogue (hundreds of bursts) |
| MeerKAT |
Galactic-Centre radio bubbles; deep continuum fields |
Most cited
[verify] — the radio-records skill should query ADS for citation counts of candidate sources
and their discovery papers (e.g. NVSS / Condon et al. 1998, Sgr A*, 3C 273, the Hulse–Taylor pulsar).
Do not assert a "most cited" without a live ADS check.
Maintained with the radio-records skill. Many seminal references here are in the
Bibliography and Landmark Papers by Year.