Pulsar
PSR B0818-13 (J0820-1350)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 1.24 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 | Puppis |
| Period | 1.238 s |
| Period derivative | 2.1×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 9.3 million years |
| Magnetic field | 1.6×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 4.4×10³¹ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 40.9 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 1,900 pc (6.2 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1970 · mol1, gb3, misc, mol2, pks70, pkshl |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 8h 20m 26.4s |
| Declination (J2000) | −13° 50′ 56″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 76° N. South of latitude 76° 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 6,197 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 110 million years.