Pulsar
PSR B1159-58 (J1202-5820)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.453 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 | Crux |
| Period | 452.8 ms |
| Period derivative | 2.1×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 3.4 million years |
| Magnetic field | 9.9×10¹¹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 9.1×10³² erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 145.7 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 1,889 pc (6.2 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1978 · mol2, htru_pks, misc, pks1, pks70, pksmb |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 12h 02m 28.3s |
| Declination (J2000) | −58° 20′ 34″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 32° N. South of latitude 32° 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 6,161 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 109 million years.