Pulsar
PSR B1105-59 (J1107-5947)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 1.52 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 | Carina |
| Period | 1.517 s |
| Period derivative | 3.4×10⁻¹⁶ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 71 million years |
| Magnetic field | 7.3×10¹¹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 3.8×10³⁰ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 158.4 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 1,915 pc (6.2 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1978 · mol2, htru_pks, pks70, pksmb |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 11h 07m 58.7s |
| Declination (J2000) | −59° 47′ 04″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 30° N. South of latitude 30° 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 6,246 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 111 million years.