Pulsar
PSR B1107-56 (J1110-5637)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.558 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 | Centaurus |
| Period | 558.3 ms |
| Period derivative | 2.1×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 4.3 million years |
| Magnetic field | 1.1×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 4.7×10³² erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 261.7 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 2,444 pc (8.0 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1992 · pks1, htru_pks, misc, pks70, pksmb |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 11h 10m 00.4s |
| Declination (J2000) | −56° 37′ 33″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 33° N. South of latitude 33° 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 7,971 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 141 million years.