Pulsar
PSR B0403-76 (J0401-7608)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.545 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 | Mensa |
| Period | 545.3 ms |
| Period derivative | 1.5×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 5.6 million years |
| Magnetic field | 9.3×10¹¹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 3.8×10³² erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 21.7 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 1,014 pc (3.3 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1978 · mol2, misc, pks70 |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 4h 01m 51.7s |
| Declination (J2000) | −76° 08′ 13″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 14° N. South of latitude 14° S it never sets.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out around 1282 BC. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 59 million years.