Pulsar
PSR B0621-04 (J0624-0424)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 1.04 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 | Monoceros |
| Period | 1.039 s |
| Period derivative | 8.3×10⁻¹⁶ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 20 million years |
| Magnetic field | 9.4×10¹¹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 2.9×10³¹ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 70.8 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 1,938 pc (6.3 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1978 · mol2, gb2, lotaas, misc, pks70 |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 6h 24m 20.0s |
| Declination (J2000) | −4° 24′ 50″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 86° N. 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 6,321 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 112 million years.