Pulsar
PSR B0203-40 (J0206-4028)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.631 seconds; the beams from its magnetic poles sweep across Earth on every turn. Period, spin-down, distance and orbit come from the ATNF Pulsar Catalogue; the beam geometry is illustrative.
| Type | Pulsar |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Phoenix |
| Period | 630.6 ms |
| Period derivative | 1.2×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 8.4 million years |
| Magnetic field | 8.8×10¹¹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.9×10³² erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 13.0 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 1,271 pc (4.1 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1978 · mol2, misc, pks70 |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 2h 06m 01.3s |
| Declination (J2000) | −40° 28′ 04″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 50° N. South of latitude 50° S it never sets. It stands highest at midnight in October, the best time to observe it.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out 4,145 years ago. At that time the first farming villages were being founded; there was no writing yet. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 74 million years.