Pulsar
PSR B1112-60 (J1114-6100)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.881 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 | 880.9 ms |
| Period derivative | 4.6×10⁻¹⁴ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 303 thousand years |
| Magnetic field | 6.4×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 2.7×10³³ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 680.3 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 5,505 pc (18.0 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1992 · pks1, htru_pks, misc, pksmb |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 11h 14m 22.5s |
| Declination (J2000) | −61° 00′ 34″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 29° N. South of latitude 29° 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 18 thousand years ago. At that time Homo sapiens was spreading out of Africa; there was no farming yet. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 319 million years.