Pulsar
PSR B1055-52 (J1057-5226)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.197 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 | 197.1 ms |
| Period derivative | 5.8×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 535 thousand years |
| Magnetic field | 1.1×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 3.0×10³⁴ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 29.7 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 93 pc (303.3 ly) |
| Discovery | 1972 · mol1, FermiBlind, htru_pks, misc, mol2, pks70, pkssw |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 10h 57m 59.0s |
| Declination (J2000) | −52° 26′ 56″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 38° N. South of latitude 38° S it never sets. It stands highest at midnight in March, the best time to observe it.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out around the year 1723. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 5.4 million years.