Pulsar
PSR B1222-63 (J1225-6408)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.420 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 | 419.6 ms |
| Period derivative | 9.3×10⁻¹⁶ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 7.1 million years |
| Magnetic field | 6.3×10¹¹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 5.0×10³² erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 413.2 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 9,838 pc (32.1 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1978 · mol2, htru_pks, misc, pks70, pksmb |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 12h 25m 42.6s |
| Declination (J2000) | −64° 08′ 45″ |
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 32 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 569 million years.