Pulsar
PSR B0540+23 (J0543+2329)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.246 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 | Taurus |
| Period | 246.0 ms |
| Period derivative | 1.5×10⁻¹⁴ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 253 thousand years |
| Magnetic field | 2.0×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 4.1×10³⁴ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 77.7 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 1,565 pc (5.1 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1972 · jb1, ar4, gb1, gb4, lotaas, fast_gpps |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 5h 43m 09.7s |
| Declination (J2000) | +23° 29′ 05″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 67° S. North of latitude 67° N 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 5,104 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 91 million years.