Pulsar
PSR B1056-78 (J1057-7914)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 1.35 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 | Chamaeleon |
| Period | 1.347 s |
| Period derivative | 1.3×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 16 million years |
| Magnetic field | 1.4×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 2.1×10³¹ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 51.6 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 1,453 pc (4.7 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1978 · mol2, misc, pks70 |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 10h 57m 27.2s |
| Declination (J2000) | −79° 14′ 24″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 11° N. South of latitude 11° S it never sets.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out 4,739 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 84 million years.