Pulsar
PSR B1039-55 (J1042-5521)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 1.17 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 | 1.171 s |
| Period derivative | 6.7×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 2.8 million years |
| Magnetic field | 2.8×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.7×10³² erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 306.8 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 2,790 pc (9.1 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1978 · mol2, htru_pks, misc, pks1, pks70, pksmb |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 10h 42m 00.5s |
| Declination (J2000) | −55° 21′ 06″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 35° N. South of latitude 35° 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 9,100 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 161 million years.