Pulsar
PSR B0855-61 (J0856-6137)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.963 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 | Carina |
| Period | 962.5 ms |
| Period derivative | 1.7×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 9.1 million years |
| Magnetic field | 1.3×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 7.4×10³¹ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 95.7 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 371 pc (1.2 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1978 · mol2, htru_pks, misc, pks70, pkssw |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 8h 56m 59.3s |
| Declination (J2000) | −61° 37′ 53″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 28° N. South of latitude 28° S it never sets. It stands highest at midnight in February, the best time to observe it.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out around the year 816. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 21 million years.