Pulsar
PSR B1124-60 (J1126-6054)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.203 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 | 202.7 ms |
| Period derivative | 2.8×10⁻¹⁶ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 11 million years |
| Magnetic field | 2.4×10¹¹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.3×10³³ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 280.3 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 2,426 pc (7.9 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1992 · pks1, htru_pks, misc, pksmb |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 11h 26m 52.6s |
| Declination (J2000) | −60° 54′ 40″ |
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 7,913 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 140 million years.