Pulsar
PSR B0839-53 (J0840-5332)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.721 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 | 720.6 ms |
| Period derivative | 1.6×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 7.0 million years |
| Magnetic field | 1.1×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.7×10³² erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 157.4 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 567 pc (1.8 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1978 · mol2, ghrss, htru_pks, misc, pks70, pkssw |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 8h 40m 33.7s |
| Declination (J2000) | −53° 32′ 36″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 36° N. South of latitude 36° 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 177. 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.