Pulsar
PSR B1237-41 (J1240-4124)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.512 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 | 512.2 ms |
| Period derivative | 1.7×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 4.7 million years |
| Magnetic field | 9.6×10¹¹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 5.1×10³² erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 43.2 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 1,644 pc (5.4 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1978 · mol2, ghrss, misc, pkssw |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 12h 40m 17.5s |
| Declination (J2000) | −41° 24′ 51″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 49° N. South of latitude 49° 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 5,362 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 95 million years.