Pulsar
PSR B1016-16 (J1018-1642)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 1.80 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 | 1.805 s |
| Period derivative | 1.7×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 16 million years |
| Magnetic field | 1.8×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.2×10³¹ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 49.2 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 25,000 pc (81.5 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1985 · gb2, misc, pks70 |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 10h 18m 40.4s |
| Declination (J2000) | −16° 42′ 10″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 73° N. South of latitude 73° 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 82 thousand years ago. At that time Homo sapiens was spreading out of Africa; there was no farming yet. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 1.4 billion years.