Pulsar
PSR B0940-55 (J0942-5552)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.664 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 | 664.4 ms |
| Period derivative | 2.3×10⁻¹⁴ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 464 thousand years |
| Magnetic field | 3.9×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 3.1×10³³ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 180.2 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 300 pc (978.5 ly) |
| Discovery | 1969 · mol1, htru_pks, misc, mol2, pks1, pks70, pksmb |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 9h 42m 14.9s |
| Declination (J2000) | −55° 52′ 55″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 34° N. South of latitude 34° 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 1048. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 17 million years.