Pulsar
PSR B0447-12 (J0450-1248)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.438 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 | Eridanus |
| Period | 438.0 ms |
| Period derivative | 1.0×10⁻¹⁶ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 68 million years |
| Magnetic field | 2.2×10¹¹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 4.8×10³¹ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 37.0 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 1,798 pc (5.9 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1978 · mol2, misc, pks70 |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 4h 50m 08.8s |
| Declination (J2000) | −12° 48′ 07″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 77° N. South of latitude 77° S it never sets. It stands highest at midnight in December, the best time to observe it.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out 5,864 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 104 million years.