Pulsar
PSR B1221-63 (J1224-6407)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.216 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 | 216.5 ms |
| Period derivative | 5.0×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 692 thousand years |
| Magnetic field | 1.1×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.9×10³⁴ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 97.7 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 4,000 pc (13.0 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1973 · misc, htru_pks, mol2, pks1, pks70, pksmb |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 12h 24m 22.2s |
| Declination (J2000) | −64° 07′ 54″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 26° N. South of latitude 26° 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 13 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 231 million years.