Pulsar
PSR B0942-13 (J0944-1354)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.570 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 | Hydra |
| Period | 570.3 ms |
| Period derivative | 4.5×10⁻¹⁷ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 200 million years |
| Magnetic field | 1.6×10¹¹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 9.6×10³⁰ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 12.5 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 690 pc (2.3 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1978 · mol2, gb2, gb3, misc, pks70, pkshl |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 9h 44m 29.0s |
| Declination (J2000) | −13° 54′ 42″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 76° N. South of latitude 76° 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 226 BC. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 40 million years.