Pulsar
PSR B0901-63 (J0902-6325)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.660 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 | 660.3 ms |
| Period derivative | 9.7×10⁻¹⁷ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 108 million years |
| Magnetic field | 2.6×10¹¹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.3×10³¹ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 72.8 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 192 pc (626.2 ly) |
| Discovery | 1978 · mol2, htru_pks, misc, pkssw |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 9h 02m 32.2s |
| Declination (J2000) | −63° 25′ 12″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 27° N. South of latitude 27° 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 1400. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 11 million years.