Pulsar
PSR B1236-68 (J1239-6832)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 1.30 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 | Musca |
| Period | 1.302 s |
| Period derivative | 1.2×10⁻¹⁴ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 1.7 million years |
| Magnetic field | 4.0×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 2.1×10³² erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 94.1 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 1,573 pc (5.1 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1978 · mol2, htru_pks, misc, pks70, pksmb, pkssw |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 12h 39m 58.9s |
| Declination (J2000) | −68° 32′ 29″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 21° N. South of latitude 21° 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 5,130 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 91 million years.