Pulsar
PSR B0940+16 (J0943+1631)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 1.09 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 | Leo |
| Period | 1.087 s |
| Period derivative | 9.1×10⁻¹⁷ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 189 million years |
| Magnetic field | 3.2×10¹¹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 2.8×10³⁰ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 20.3 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 1,371 pc (4.5 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1978 · mol2, ar4, lotaas, misc |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 9h 43m 30.1s |
| Declination (J2000) | +16° 31′ 37″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 73° S. North of latitude 73° N 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 4,472 years ago. At that time the first farming villages were being founded; there was no writing yet. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 79 million years.