Pulsar
PSR B0808-47 (J0809-4753)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.547 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 | Vela |
| Period | 547.2 ms |
| Period derivative | 3.1×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 2.8 million years |
| Magnetic field | 1.3×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 7.4×10³² erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 228.7 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 6,501 pc (21.2 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1978 · mol2, ghrss, htru_pks, misc, pks70, pkssw |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 8h 09m 43.8s |
| Declination (J2000) | −47° 53′ 55″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 42° N. South of latitude 42° S it never sets. It stands highest at midnight in January, the best time to observe it.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out 21 thousand years ago. At that time Homo sapiens was spreading out of Africa; there was no farming yet. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 376 million years.