Pulsar
PSR B0818-41 (J0820-4114)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.545 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 | 545.4 ms |
| Period derivative | 2.0×10⁻¹⁷ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 437 million years |
| Magnetic field | 1.1×10¹¹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 4.8×10³⁰ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 112.8 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 571 pc (1.9 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1978 · mol2, htru_pks, misc, pks70, pkshl, pksmb |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 8h 20m 15.5s |
| Declination (J2000) | −41° 14′ 35″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 49° N. South of latitude 49° 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 around the year 164. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 33 million years.